"Is that melancholy fiend too strong for you?" He smiled as he said this, and as he smiled, he took her hand. She did not attempt to withdraw it, but sat by him in a strange calmness, looking straight before her into the middle of the room. "You have not struggled with it. You know, as I do, that it is a bad fiend and a wicked one,--a fiend that is prompting you to the worst cruelty in the world. Alice! Alice! Alice! Try to think of all this as though some other person were concerned. If it were your friend, what advice would you give her?"

"Is that melancholy fiend too strong for you?" He smiled as he said this, and took her hand. She did not attempt to withdraw it, but sat by him in a strange calm. "You have not struggled with it. You know, as I do, that it is a wicked fiend, that is prompting you to the worst cruelty in the world. Alice! Alice! Try to think as though some other person were concerned. If it were your friend, what advice would you give her?"
