And then he made us wait again, till I was quite stiff in my legs, but
Alice liked it because of looking at the hats and bonnets, and at last
the door opened, and the boy said--

'Mr Rosenbaum will see you,' so we wiped our feet on the mat, which said
so, and we went up stairs with soft carpets and into a room. It was a
beautiful room. I wished then we had put on our best things, or at least
washed a little. But it was too late now.

The room had velvet curtains and a soft, soft carpet, and it was full of
the most splendid things. Black and gold cabinets, and china, and
statues, and pictures. There was a picture of a cabbage and a pheasant
and a dead hare that was just like life, and I would have given worlds
to have it for my own. The fur was so natural I should never have been
tired of looking at it; but Alice liked the one of the girl with the
broken jug best. Then besides the pictures there were clocks and
candlesticks and vases, and gilt looking-glasses, and boxes of cigars
and scent and things littered all over the chairs and tables. It was a
wonderful place, and in the middle of all the splendour was a little old
gentleman with a very long black coat and a very long white beard and a
hookey nose--like a falcon. And he put on a pair of gold spectacles and
looked at us as if he knew exactly how much our clothes were worth.

And then, while we elder ones were thinking how to begin, for we had all
said 'Good morning' as we came in, of course, H. O. began before we
could stop him. He said:

'Are you the G. B.?'