"'And I mean to spend money,' said the Alderman. 'I've been a beastly miser, that's what I've been, but I shall never have that taunt flung at me again.'
"'Good,' nodded the Lion. 'Help him bury his pet in the big garden of your London house, and bury at the same time all the past you want to forget.'
"'I will,' said the Alderman. 'Here, come along and get fed. Here, what's your name?'
"'Skylark,' prompted the Lion.
"'Skylark? A very good name,' said the Alderman; 'it suggests Spring, and—and——'
"'Going steadily upward,' prompted the Lion.
"'By Jove, Lal, you're wonderful,' exclaimed the Alderman. 'How can I thank you for giving me my sight again, for making a different man of me? and, good gracious, now I come to think of it clearly and reasonably, every single thing you have told me has always been true.'
"'If you believe that,' said the Lion, 'listen attentively to the last thing I tell you, even more upon account of it being the last time I shall actually speak to either of you.'
"'Say on, Lal, we cannot do without your help; I know I can't, and I thought I could do most things.'
"'You may consider it most inconsequent of me to mention such a childishly fabled person to you as Dick Whittington, and yet strangely enough that hero of a nursery legend will have a great deal in common with both of you in your future lives.'