ways.
I m sure _mine_ only works one way, Alice remarked. I can t remember
things before they happen.
It s a poor sort of memory that only works backwards, the Queen
remarked.
What sort of things do _you_ remember best? Alice ventured to ask.
Oh, things that happened the week after next, the Queen replied in a
careless tone. For instance, now, she went on, sticking a large piece
of plaster on her finger as she spoke, there s the King s Messenger.
He s in prison now, being punished: and the trial doesn t even begin
till next Wednesday: and of course the crime comes last of all.
Suppose he never commits the crime? said Alice.
That would be all the better, wouldn t it? the Queen said, as she
bound the plaster round her finger with a bit of ribbon.
Alice felt there was no denying _that_. Of course it would be all the
better, she said: but it wouldn t be all the better his being
punished.
You re wrong _there_, at any rate, said the Queen: were _you_ ever
punished?
Only for faults, said Alice.
And you were all the better for it, I know! the Queen said
triumphantly.
Yes, but then I _had_ done the things I was punished for, said Alice:
that makes all the difference.
But if you _hadn t_ done them, the Queen said, that would have been
better still; better, and better, and better! Her voice went higher
with each better, till it got quite to a squeak at last.
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