she thought . ' I must be growing small again . ' She got up and went to the table to measure herself by it , and found that , as nearly as she could guess , she was now about two feet high , and was going on shrinking rapidly : she soon found out that the cause of this was the fan she was holding , and she dropped it hastily , just in time to avoid shrinking away altogether . ` That WAS a narrow escape ! ' said Alice , a good deal frightened at the sudden change , but very glad to find herself still in existence ; ` and now for the garden ! ' and she ran with all speed back to the little door : but , alas ! the little door was shut again , and the little golden key was lying on the glass table as before , ` and things are worse than ever , ' thought the poor child , ` for I never was so small as this before , never ! And I declare it 's too bad , that it is ! ' As she said these words her foot slipped , and in another moment , splash ! she was up to her chin in salt water . Her first idea was that she had somehow fallen into the sea , ` and in that case I can go back by railway , ' she said to herself . -LRB- Alice had been to the seaside once in her life , and had come to the general conclusion , that wherever you go to on the English coast you find a number of bathing machines in the sea , some children digging in the sand with wooden spades , then a row of lodging houses , and behind them a railway station . -RRB- However , she soon made out that she was in the pool of tears which she had wept when she was nine feet high . ' I wish I had n't cried so much ! ' said Alice , as she swam about , trying to find her way out . ' I shall be punished for it now , I suppose , by being drowned in my own tears ! That WILL be a queer thing , to be sure ! However , everything is queer to-day . ' 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 : XXXXX any rate , there 's no harm in trying . '
about as at in into of on out than that