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168 WHO STOLE 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. “Tt isn’t mine,” said the Hatter. ‘“ Stolen!” the King exclaimed, turning to the jury, who instantly made a memorandum of the fact. “T keep them to sell,” the Hatter added as an explanation: “I’ve none of my own. Im a hatter.” Here the Queen put on her spectacles, and began staring hard 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.
