l rot, it's been proved long
ago they are all frauds. I shall always decline absolutely to give
anything or do anything for any outside charity. Life is too short.'

"'We shall see,' said the Lion. 'Good-night.'

"When Lal's friend from the City had departed, I came out from the
corner where I had been waiting, and Sam and I clambered up into our
old place out of sight. At that time I considered the City Alderman a
very horrid mean old man, and remembering Lal's words that he was a
miser, I made a mental resolution that although this was the first
specimen of the kind I had ever encountered, I never wished to meet
another of the same sort.

"'Well?' inquired Lal, as I lay and looked up into his face before
settling down for the night. 'What do you think of him?'

"''Ard-hearted, ain't 'e?' I replied.

"'Humph! yes, at present,' mused Lal.

"'Wot will yer give 'im ter take for it?' I asked.

"Lal smiled. 'Oh, a little prescription of my own.'

"'That bloke wot's just gone won't do nothink fer me. Can't yer
suggest somethink else, Lal, somebody as I could go to as would give me
some work?'

"'If you have patience,' answered Lal, 'and look around and get a few
odd jobs, and a little grub for yourself and Sam every day for a little
while, like the small London sparrow that you are--I beg your pardon, I
should have said Skylark--I shall be able very shortly to bring our
friend to a better frame of mind; at the present moment his sense of
proportion is all wrong.'

"'Wot's sense of proportion, Lal?' I inquired.

"'If,' replied Lal, 'you persisted in thinking that you were as big as
I am, for instance, your sense of proportion would be bad; if I
imagined that I was as great as St. Martin's Church yonder, my sense of
proportion would be worse.'

"'Lor' lummy, don't I jist wish I was as big as you.'

"'Why?' asked Lal.

"''Cos I'd 'ave a bit more weight to do fings wiv. There ain't no
doubt that strength tells in the end.'

"Lal only chuckled at what I said, and I again went sound to sleep, as
upon former occasions, in my strange roosting-place.

"The Alderman was in the habit of crossing Trafalgar Square every
evening upon his way home, although I had never observed him until the
night Lal had pointed him out to me; consequently, a few evenings
afterwards, I first noticed how strangely he was beginning to walk. I
can only describe it as a sort of zigzag from side to side, and
occasionally a sort of