Page:Alices adventures in Cambridge.djvu/24

 out you wouldn't need it any more, you know."

"But I don't want to sell my skin," said Alice. "It's too useful."

"I'll give you fifty cents for it," the cat said, "and be robbing myself at that."

Alice paid no attention to this remark. She thought it sounded bloodthirsty, and, feeling a little afraid of being skinned alive, she hurried on. When she came to the next corner, there was the cat again, grinning as much as ever.

"Come, I'II match you whether I pay you a dollar or nothing," said the cat, edging up very close.

"How do you happen to be on every corner?" Alice asked, hoping to change the subject.

"I live on street corners," replied the cat, "and I'll give you seventy-five cents for your skin, on the spot. It would ruin me to go any higher."

The insistence of the animal frightened Alice so much that she began to run. After [ 18 ]