"'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 all 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 stumble, as if he was not quite certain where he was going.