Peach was getting bored of sitting by Daisy as the book she read had no pictures or conversations in it. "And what is the use of a book," thought Peach, "without pictures or conversations?"

So she was dreaming of her own little world when suddenly a White Rabbit in a red waistcoat with blue eyes ran close by her. Nothing really seemed strange at first; but when the Rabbit took a watch out of his waistcoat-pocket, Peach started to her feet, chasing after him as he sang:

"I'm late! I'm late!

For a very important date!

No time to say hello, goodbye!

I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

"Mr. Rabbit!" shouted Peach. "Wait!"

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" sang the rabbit.

"I'm overdue!

I'm really in a stew!

No time to say goodbye, hello!

I'm late! I'm late! I'm late!"

As Peach chased the Rabbit she was just in time to see him pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment Peach went down after him. The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Peach had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down a very deep well.

"Well!" thought Peach to herself. "After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down the stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house! I wonder how far I've fallen. I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth."

Suddenly, thump! She landed upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over. Peach was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment; before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. Peach ran very fast and was just in time to hear him say, "Oh my fur and whiskers, how late it's getting!"

Suddenly she came upon a little three-legged table made of solid glass, and on it was a tiny golden key, and Peach's first thought was that it might belong to one of the doors of the hall; but when she came upon a low curtain she had not noticed before, she opened it, and behind it was a little door about fifteen inches high. She tried the little golden key in the lock, and it fit!

"Even if my head would go through," thought poor Peach, "it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope!" She went back to the table, and found a little bottle on it, and round the neck of the bottle was a paper label, with the words "DRINK ME" beautifully printed on it in large letters.

It was all very well to say "Drink me," but the wise little Peach wouldn't do that in a hurry. "No, I'll look first," she said, "and see whether it's marked "poison" or not." Of course, she knew too well that if you drink from a bottle marked "poison," it is almost certain to disagree with you, sooner or later. However, this bottle was not marked "poison," so Peach ventured to taste it, and finding it very nice, with a sort of mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast, she very soon finished it off. "What a curious feeling! I must be shutting up like a telescope."

She was now only three inches high, and her face brightened up at the thought that she was now the right size for going through the little door into that lovely garden; and as nothing more happened, she decided on going into the garden at once; but, when she got to the door, she found she had forgotten the little golden key, and she could not possibly reach it, although she could see it, so she cried and cried.

Soon her eye fell on a little glass box that was lying under the table. She opened it, and found a very small cake, on which the words "EAT ME" were beautifully marked in sprinkles. "Well, I'll eat it," said Peach, "and if I grow larger, I can reach the key; and if I get smaller, I can creep under the door; so either way I'll get into the garden!"

She ate a little bit, and said anxiously to herself, "Which way? Which way?", holding her hand on the top of her head to feel which way it was growing, and she was quite surprised to find that she remained the same size; so she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.