Page:Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There.djvu/214

194 "The cause of lightning," Alice said very decidedly, for she felt quite certain about this, "is the thunderno, no!" she hastily corrected herself. "I meant the other way."

"It's too late to correct it," said the Red Queen: "when you've once said a thing, that fixes it, and you must take the consequences."

"Which reminds me" the White Queen said, looking down and nervously clasping and unclasping her hands, "we had such a thunderstorm last TuesdayI mean one of the last set of Tuesdays, you know."

Alice was puzzled. "In our country," she remarked, "there's only one day at a time."

The Red Queen said "That's a poor thin way of doing things. Now here, we mostly have days and nights two or three at a time, and sometimes in the winter we take as many as five nights togetherfor warmth, you know."

"Are five nights warmer than one night, then?" Alice ventured to ask.

"Five times as warm, of course."