Out in the graden, Candace saw a hill with a path that seemed to lead to it."I 'll see the graden much better up from there." she thought.
But the path had more twists and turn tahn a corkscrew. Which ever way Candace went, she always ended back at the house.
At last, she turned to a flower waving gracefully in the wind. "Oh Tiger-Lily, I do wish you could talk."
"I can," said the Tiger-Lily, "when there's anyone worth talking to."
Candace was so astonshed that, for a minute, she couldn't speak herself.
"Can all flower talk ? "asked Candace then. "I've never heard any." "Feel the ground," ordered the Tiger-Lily .
"It's very hard." said Candace. "In most gardens, " the Tiger- Lily said, "the beds are too soft. All the flowers are asleep."
"I never thought of that," said Candace. "are there any people in this garden besides me?" she went on.
"There is one other flower a little like you," said the Rose
Candace smiled. Perhaps there was another girl to play with. "She's coming!" said a Marigold.
Candace looked around eagerly. But it was the Red Queen - and she seemed to have grown. When Candace had last seen her, she was only the size of a thumb. Now, she was taller than Candace.
" I think I ' ll go and meet her" said Candace . "You can't possibly do that" said the rose.
"If you want to find her, walk the other way," advised the Rose.
This sounded like nonsense to Candace, so she off in the Queen's direction. To her suprise, she lost sight of her in a moment and found herself back in the house.
Candace could still see the Queen, a long way off, so she decided to try walking the opposite direction. That worked beautifully. In less than a minute, they were face to face in a hill.
"Where are you going?" asked the Queen. "I ' m not sure," Candace replied. "I keep losing my way my way."
"Your way ?" said the Queen. "All the ways around here belong to me. But where are you here at all?"
"I wanted to see the graden, your Majesty," said Candace. The Red Queen patted her on the head, which Candace didn't like at all, and led her up the hill. From the top you could see all over the country - and what a peculiar country it was. The ground was divided up into squares by hedges and tiny streams. " It's like a giant chessboard !! " ......................
" We're in the Second Square," said the Queen. "when you get to the Eighth Square, you'll be a Queen. Quick! Run! " She grabbed Candace's hand and they ran." faster !! run faster !! " said the Red Queen.
The strange thing was, they didn't seem to get anywhere. " We haven't moved!" Candace panted when they finally stopped to rest.
"Of course not," said the Queen. "Here, it takes all the running you can do , to stay in the same place.To go somewhere else , you must run at least twice as fast."
"Now, direction," said the Queen. "A pawn- that's you - goes two squares in its first move. So you'll go very quickly through the Thrid Square, by railway I should think. In the Fourth Square you'll meet Tweedledum and Tweedledee." The Fifth Square has a shop and the Sixth belongs to Humpty Dumpty. The Seventh is forest, but a Knight will show you the way, and in the Eighth Square we shall be Queens together and it's all feasting and fun!"
"Goodbye!" added the Queen, and she vanished
