Great preparations for the ceremony were begun at
Westminster Abbey, where the wedding was to take place. The old hatter
became greatly excited when he heard the news. His addled wits
presently hit upon a wonderful scheme by which he could both honour
and serve his sovereign: _He would make the King a hat to wear at his
wedding_!"

"I guess he must 've been a good hatter, after all," the Little Chap
murmured, in a tone of conviction.

"Perhaps, in his time," his father conceded. "But you must remember he
now was old and foolish. His materials were merely such odds and ends
as he could gather together, and the result was very
disreputable-looking. But in his rheumy old eyes it was the most
wonderful hat ever designed for a monarch. He carefully wrapped it in
a soiled old cloth and started out to present it to the King. At the
palace gates the guards refused him admittance, and cruelly laughed in
his face. He tried every means he could think of to have the hat reach
its destination. Once he stopped the Court Chamberlain on the street,
only to be rebuked for his pains. Another time he waylaid a peer, as
he left the House of Lords, and was threatened with arrest. Foiled in
all his attempts, the cracked-brained old fellow impatiently awaited
the wedding ceremony. At last the great day arrived. All the bells of
old London were ringing blithely as the gilded coach, drawn by ten
white horses, deposited the King at Westminster Abbey. In the
forefront of the vast throng surrounding the entrance stood the
hatter."

"And did he have the hat with him?" asked the Little Chap.

"Yes, Son, he had it with him. And when the King entered the portals
of the ancient Abbey, the hatter somehow broke through the line of
guards and ran after him crying 'Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Deign to
accept this token of a loyal subject's regard!'

"The King turned in surprise And when he saw the ragged old fellow
tending him the ridiculous-looking hat, he flew into a great rage and
cried angrily: 'How comes this varlet here, interrupting his
Sovereign's nuptials and desecrating our Tomb of Kings? Away with him
to prison, and let him repent his insolence as he rots in a dungeon!'"

"Why did he do that, Daddy?"

"The Sovereign, Son, was a very proud king, while the hatter was both
poor and humble. And at his words the guards hurried forward and
hustled the old man out of the Abbey, where his presence was an insult
to the Great. In the struggle th