(baiting her) Perhaps we should ask Jest when he returns. I daresay he’s the expert. He doesn’t usually disappear this long. Perhaps he was already tired of your company.

(matter-of-fact) He went mad. It’s an unfortunate family trait, one that’s been passed down for generations. My father, and his father, and so many fathers back that one could never count them all. Every one a fine, gentlemanly hatter, and every one mad as march. But… (smiling slyly) I know a secret they didn’t know, so perhaps my fate isn’t as hopeless.

(breaking, madness has finally come) Stuff and nonsense. Nonsense and stuff and much of a muchness and nonsense all over again. We are all mad here, don't you know? And it runs in my family, it's part of my blood and he's here - Time has finally found me, and I... I haven't the slightest idea, Your Queenness. I find that I simply cannot recall why a raven is like a writing desk.