“Good heavens!” cried Robert, rushing to the door with his half-filled teacup in his hand. “This is too much. Here is an iron cage on a trolly with a great ramping tiger, and the whole village with their mouths open.”
“Mad as a hatter!” shrieked old Mr. McIntyre. “I could see it in his eye. He spent enough on this beast to start me in business. Whoever heard of such a thing? Tell the driver to take it to the police-station.”
“Nothing of the sort, papa,” said Laura, rising with dignity and wrapping a shawl about her shoulders. Her eyes were shining, her cheeks flushed, and she carried herself like a triumphant queen.
Robert, with his teacup in his hand, allowed his attention to be diverted from their strange visitor while he gazed at his beautiful sister.
“Mr. Raffles Haw has done this out of kindness to me,” she said, sweeping towards the door. “I look upon it as a great attention on his part. I shall certainly go out and look at it.”
“If you please, sir,” said the carman, reappearing at the door, “it's all as we can do to 'old in the 'osses.”
“Let us all go out together then,” suggested Robert.
They went as far as the garden fence and stared over, while the whole village, from the school-children to the old grey-haired men from the almshouses, gathered round in mute astonishment. The tiger, a long, lithe, venomous-looking creature, with two blazing green eyes, paced stealthily round the little cage, lashing its sides with its tail, and rubbing its muzzle against the bars.
“What were your orders?” asked Robert of the carman.
“It came through by special express from Liverpool, sir, and the train is drawn up at the Tamfield siding all ready to take it back. If it 'ad been royalty the railway folk couldn't ha' shown it more respec'. We are to take it back when you're done with it. It's been a cruel job, sir, for our arms is pulled clean out of the sockets a-'olding in of the 'osses.”