then unrolled the parchment scroll, and read as follows:--

    `The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts,

          All on a summer day:

      The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts,

          And took them quite away!'

  `Consider your verdict,' the King said to the jury.

  `Not yet, not yet!' the Rabbit hastily interrupted.  `There's

a great deal to come before that!'

  `Call the first witness,' said the King; and the White Rabbit

blew three blasts on the trumpet, and called out, `First

witness!'

  The first witness was the Hatter.  He came in with a teacup in

one hand and a piece of bread-and-butter in the other.  `I beg

pardon, your Majesty,' he began, `for bringing these in:  but I

hadn't quite finished my tea when I was sent for.'

  `You ought to have finished,' said the King.  `When did you

begin?'

  The Hatter looked at the March Hare, who had followed him into

the court, arm-in-arm with the Dormouse.  `Fourteenth of March, I

think it was,' he said.

  `Fifteenth,' said the March Hare.

  `Sixteenth,' added the Dormouse.

  `Write that down,' the King said to the jury, and the jury

eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then

added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence.

  `Take off your hat,' the King said to the Hatter.

  `It isn't mine,' said the Hatter.

  `Stolen!' the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who

instantly made a memorandum of the fact.

  `I keep them to sell,' the Hatter added as an explanation;

`I've none of my own.  I'm a hatter.'

  Here the Queen put on her spectacles, and began staring at the

Hatter, who turned pale and fidgeted.

  `Give your evidence,' said the King; `and don't be nervous, or

I'll have you executed on the spot.'

  This did not seem to encourage the witness at all:  he kept

shifting from one foot to the other, looking uneasily at the

Queen, and in his confusion he bit a large piece out of his

teacup instead of the bread-and-butter.

  Just at this moment Alice felt a very curious sensation, which

puzzled her a good deal until she made out what it was:  she was

beginning to grow larger again, and she thought at first she

would get up and leave the court; but on second thoughts she

()