Alice
Perhaps not, but I know I have to beat time when I learn music.
Hatter
Ah, that accounts for it. He won’t stand beating. Now, if you only kept on good terms with him, he’d do almost anything you liked with the clock. For instance, suppose it were nine o’clock in the morning, just time to begin lessons. You’d only have to whisper a hint to Time, and round goes the clock in a twinkling! Half past one, time for dinner.
I only wish it was.
Alice
That would be grand, certainly, but then—I shouldn’t be hungry for it, you know.
Hatter
Not at first, perhaps, but you could keep it to half past one as long as you liked.