Just then she heard something splashing about in the pool a little way off , and she swam nearer to make out what it was : at first she thought it must be a walrus or hippopotamus , but then she remembered how small she was now , and she soon made out that it was only a mouse that had slipped in like herself . ` Would it be of any use , now , ' thought Alice , ` to speak to this mouse ? Everything is so out-of-the-way down here , that I should think very likely it can talk : at any rate , there 's no harm in trying . ' So she began : ' O Mouse , do you know the way out of this pool ? I am very tired of swimming about here , O Mouse ! ' -LRB- Alice thought this must be the right way of speaking to a mouse : she had never done such a thing before , but she remembered having seen in her brother 's Latin Grammar , ' A mouse -- of a mouse -- to a mouse -- a mouse -- O mouse ! ' -RRB- The Mouse looked at her rather inquisitively , and seemed to her to wink with one of its little eyes , but it said nothing . ` Perhaps it does n't understand English , ' thought Alice ; ' I daresay it 's a French mouse , come over with William the Conqueror . ' -LRB- For , with all her knowledge of history , Alice had no very clear notion how long ago anything had happened . -RRB- So she began again : ` Ou est ma chatte ? ' which was the first sentence in her French lesson-book . The Mouse gave a sudden leap out of the water , and seemed to quiver all over with fright . ` Oh , I beg your pardon ! ' cried Alice hastily , afraid that she had hurt the poor animal 's feelings . ' I quite forgot you did n't like cats . ' ` Not like cats ! ' cried the Mouse , in a shrill , passionate voice . ` Would YOU like cats if you were me ? ' ` Well , perhaps not , ' said Alice in a soothing tone : ` do n't be angry about it . And yet I wish I could show you our cat Dinah : I think you 'd take a fancy to cats if you could only see her .
She is such a dear quiet thing , ' Alice went on , half to herself , as she swam lazily about in the pool , ` and she sits purring so nicely by the fire , licking her paws and washing her face -- and she is such a nice soft thing XXXXX nurse -- and she 's such a capital one for catching mice -- oh , I beg your pardon ! '
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