ve in
it, and I have to fight it with its own weapons.'

"'You have no wife.'

"'No, Lal.'

"'No child.'

"'No.'

"'No single soul your wealth can do any good for.'

"'I need it all for myself.'

"'You are hoarding money fast.'

"'I shall need it all when I can no longer work; the value of money
decreases day by day. What is a fortune now will only be a pittance a
very few years hence.'

"'All for yourself?'

"'Yes.'

"'Nothing will change you?'

"'Why should it? I have only myself to consider, and I mean to make
more and more, and more, and never stop; there shall be no limit to
what I shall acquire, it is the only thing I care about now in life.'

"'In addition,' said the Lion, 'you are cutting down every little
comfort and every luxury you might enjoy because you are becoming
frightened at every small expense.'

"'Yes, growing expenses are the worries of my life.'

"'In fact, you are becoming daily, slowly and surely, a miser.'

"'It's not a nice word.'

"'It is the truth. Your clerks are the most ill-paid of any in the
City of London. Only last week you cut down your office boy's tiny
salary from ten shillings a week to seven shillings, although you know
he has to pay two shillings a week for fares to and from your office.'

"'How can I help his living out of town?'

"'You know he has to live with his mother and brothers and sisters,
five of them in addition to himself. He only takes home five shillings
every week, but he _gives_ it all up; he is happier than you are.'

"'Any way, I know how to arrange my own business,' snapped the
Alderman. 'I have prospered so far, and I intend to go on and prosper;
I am not going to change a single thing in my life or my methods of
business. I have prospered up to now, I shall prosper even more.'

"'And hoard more?' inquired Lal gently.

"'Yes, you call it hoarding. I call it amassing, and I shall strain
every nerve to amass more and more; it is too late in my life to alter
now.'

"'We shall see,' said the Lion. 'I was going to ask you to do
something for me, something for some one who is as penniless as you
were once yourself; but if I did ask you a favour now I should only
waste time.'

"'I have no time for charity,' said the Alderman. 'I heartily begrudge
the subscriptions we have to give from time to time in the City, yet
one is compelled to assist some of those for the sake of business; but
as for any outside charity, pooh! it's al