Tiger Lilly and the Princess

by Graeme Ingham

CHAPTER 15

  ‘Constable Webber, please bring Miss Pearl Santino into court.’ The Judge looked across the room. It was much more crowded than he thought it would be, but thankfully he could see no newspaper reporters; least none he knew. He could see Mrs Shanghasi sitting towards the back of the court and surely that was her husband sitting next to her. Yes, there he was, the famous Zacharias Shanghasi himself: his picture was seldom out of the newspapers now that his circus was visiting Mandredela. And of course, how slow he was not to realise the reason his court was so crowded was simply because Mrs Shanghasi’s circus friends were curious to learn why she had stood bail for a young girl they had never heard of or seen before and particularly in such an out of the way place such as this. He should have recognised them as circus folk the minute they walked through the door.

  The man sitting on the other side of Mrs Shanghasi for instance. Even sitting down, he was head and shoulders above everyone else and no doubt their latest ‘tallest man in the world.’ And those young men and women sitting behind him: obviously acrobats or members of some daring high-wire act: born and bred to be circus entertainers, knowing no other way of life. And the ones near the door. Clowns for certain. How to tell? No sure way. Nothing but a strange, indefinable something that said loud and clear that they were circus folk: so like other men, yet so different. And over there, in the farthest corner of his court, those two strange creatures – women or girls he couldn’t say – covered from head to foot in the darkest of smock-like dresses, their heads covered by hoods, hardly lifting their heads. Probably part of some weird and mystical sideshow act.

  ‘Yes, thank you Constable, that chair will do quite nicely. Save Pearl and I having to shout across to each other.’ He smiled at Pearl and let his smile continue until he was certain it had encompassed everyone in court. He was in a good mood. He had dined well the night before, had slept in a comfortable bed, had breakfasted handsomely and no longer felt a need to leave Yeltsin in such a hurry. Something, no doubt, to do with Constable Webber’s offer to introduce him to ‘the best fly fishing in the district’ should he by chance be delayed in Yeltsin.

  ‘Now, my dear,’ he said, turning again to Pearl. ‘I want you to understand that I will be asking you many questions this morning and I expect you to answer each one as truthfully and sincerely as you can. Also, I want you to understand that I have been a judge for many years and I can’t begin to tell you the number of times I have had to listen to people telling me what they supposed were small untruths without them realising how speedily they were entangling themselves into a whole mess of trouble. Making things ever more difficult for themselves. You won’t do that will you Pearl?’

  ‘No, sir,’ Pearl.replied. She gave a glance around the room. She could see her Mum and Dad sitting close by and Lilac and Tiger Lilly perched on stools by the door. She gave each one a smile in turn while wondering who was looking after Mattie. Mrs Gollitoe she thought.

  Gredo had noticed. ‘Also,’ he added, ‘I must ask you not to be looking to your sisters whenever I ask you a question. They are in court with my special permission and I will have no hesitation in asking Constable Webber to remove them if I think they are trying to influence you. You understand what I mean – making signals, nodding, that sort of thing?’

  ‘Yes, sir.’ replied Pearl.

  ‘Yes sir,’ echoed Tiger Lilly, in a clear voice from the back of the court. ‘No signals.’

  Judge Grimstone managed a serious face. ‘Have a word, Constable. Tell whichever one it was to please keep quiet.’

  ‘Now Pearl, I would like to go over the circumstances that brought you here today and if there is anything I say that you disagree with, I want you to speak up immediately. And do not forget what I have just said about telling the truth. Not for a moment.

  ‘Very well then, these are the facts as I know them. On the tenth day of this month, which was two days ago, Her Royal Highness, the Princess Serena, attended the opening of what is famously known as the Shanghasi Circus here in Yeltsin Town. It was the Princess’s birthday and she was wearing a necklace that been given to her by her father as a birthday present. The Princess clearly remembers having the necklace when she arrived at the circus, but later, when she returned home, she found it was missing. Now there are only two possible conclusions as far as I can see. Either the necklace had somehow become loose and had been accidently dropped by the Princess while she was walking about at the circus, or it had been stolen.’

  ‘Please, that’s not correct.’ said Pearl, quick to interrupt.

  The Judge frowned. ‘Pearl, I know I said you were to speak out if there was something you disagreed with, but I am simply stating the known facts and am quite sure that, so far, I have said nothing that can possibly be disagreed with. What’s more, we really must be getting on with things. You understand what I’m saying?’

  ‘Yes, but what you said is not so. The necklace wasn’t accidently dropped and it wasn’t stolen.’

  Judge Grimstone leaned back in his chair: he was an old hand at expecting the unexpected. ‘The missing necklace was found in your possession,’ he replied in a voice suddenly sharp and precise . ‘If you didn’t find it and you didn’t steal it, perhaps you will explain how it came to be on your person when you were searched by the soldiers?’

  ‘I was returning it.’

  ‘Returning it you say! To where were you returning it ?’

  ‘To where it had been hidden.’

  The judge raised his hand to silence a murmur that sounded throughout the room. ‘Let me remind you,’ he said, turning to his audience. ‘I expect complete silence in my court and that means at all times and no matter what is being said by the witness or by anyone else.’ He turned again to Pearl.

  ‘Pearl, what you have just said sounds dangerously like one of those small untruths I warned you to avoid less than a minute ago, but, all right, tell me who gave you the necklace to hide and, if you please, a better description of where it had been hidden.’

  Pearl had no time to answer. ‘It was me!’ Tiger Lilly called as she pushed away from her stool and began to stride towards the front of the court. ‘I gave it to Pearl because I didn’t want to have it any more and because I didn’t know what to do with it otherwise, and because I didn’t know if I would get a chance to take it back myself because I don’t go that way very often, in fact not often at all, and because Pearl is good at solving things that are a puzzle.’

  Constable Webber looked quickly towards the Judge, but a look told him to allow Tiger Lilly to continue on her way towards him.

  ‘Also,’ she said as she stopped beside her sister’s chair. ‘I gave it to her because soon after I put the necklace in my pocket, I was sorry I did and didn’t want to have it any more and I kept on thinking to myself that I should have left it under the bench which is really a log and if I ever see any more necklaces under logs that look like benches, I will pretend I haven’t seen them in the first place and will look the other way.’

  It was a rare occasion for Senior Judge Gredo Grimstone to be lost for words. Not that finding them would have helped: Tiger Lilly was in full flow.

  ‘You see my Mum and my Dad thought I was still asleep when I left home and went on my own to the circus. They had gone to see if they could get themselves jobs helping at the Circus you see - my two sisters that is, not my Mum and Dad - but they hadn’t said a single word to me because they wanted to surprise me with a special birthday tea. It was my birthday. Nine I was. Mind, I wasn’t to know that at the time now was I? About them wanting to give me a surprise tea, I mean, not that it was my birthday. I knew it was my birthday, course I did. Every one knows when it’s their birthday. Anyway, after I walked miles and miles down the road, I thought I would like a sit down on the log that sits at the side of the road and looks just like a bench – actually it’s a puzzle to know whether I should call it a log or a bench because it’s a log that everyone likes to sit on and a lot of people also say it’s a magic b
ench while others think it isn’t magic at all. My sister Lilac who knows a whole lot about magic, says people who say it isn’t magic will never know if it is or if it isn’t because . . . . ’

  ‘I’m sorry to have to interrupt you,’ said the Judge, this time making no attempt to hide a huge grin. ‘But I think it might be better if you could try answering my questions with as few words as possible. Do you think you could do that?’

  ‘Yes, with as few words as possible,’ Tiger Lilly repeated, looking round at the court and wondering why everyone was suddenly smiling.

  ‘Thank you,’ said the Judge. ‘First, I’d like you to tell me your name.

  ‘Tiger Lilly.’

  ‘Tiger Lilly! Well, that is an unusual name, not one I have heard before. Do you mind telling me why they call you that?

  ‘It’s a secret.’ Tiger Lilly replied.

  ‘A secret! Well perhaps you could whisper it to me. I’ll tell no one

  else, I promise. Not a soul.’

  ‘No,’ said Tiger Lilly.’

  ‘Well you answered that in a few words, I must say.’ said the Judge. ‘Very well then, perhaps you will tell me about the necklace instead. You say you gave it to Pearl, but I have to tell you, Miss Tiger Lilly, that I would like you to be sure you are telling me the absolute truth and not some made-up story that you think will help your sister. So tell me, could the truth perhaps be that you actually found the necklace while you were at the Circus, and that you maybe gave it to your sister to hide until you had time to decide what to do with it. Or is it perhaps that you stole the necklace from the Princess, then became scared and didn’t know what to do with it?’

  ‘Stole it! No, course I didn’t steal it. Why, that’s a terrible thing to say. No, what happened was this: I was reaching under the log for my shoe which had slipped off when I was rushing to hide under the bush when I first heard the horses coming and I felt something under it that I knew wasn’t my shoe because it wasn’t even the shape of a shoe and when I pulled it out it wasn’t my shoe at all, it was the necklace which I put in my pocket and gave to Pearl to return to the log. I found my shoe soon afterwards.’

  ‘Oh dear! said Judge Grimstone, still with a trace of a grin. ‘Perhaps you had better start at the beginning.’

  ‘Yes, all right, if you really want me to, but I don’t think I can say all that happened in just a few words – there’s such a lot to say, you see.’

  The Judge nodded: ‘Very well, as many words as you like. But only the truth, you hear, no stories.’

  And so Tiger Lilly told all that happened on the way to the Circus. She told how she had heard the sound of galloping horses while she was resting on the bench and how she had hidden behind a bush and how a beautiful coach and horses had arrived and how it had come to a stop in front of the bench. She said she couldn’t see who it was who stepped out of the coach, not at first, only that it was a girl about her own age with the darkest of dark hair and that she knew for certain sure that she did not like her one bit and would never want to be her friend. Never ever.

  ‘Oh and why is that?’ asked the Judge. He was sitting absolutely still, his eyes fixed on Tiger Lilly.

  ‘Because she had soldiers with her and a lady who was not really old and not really young and the girl was as nasty as nasty could be with the lady and the soldiers and kept on screaming and shouting at them like she hated them being near. Awful she was and I can truly say I never thought any girl could be so horrid. Boys maybe, not girls. Anyway, she began to shout that she wanted to be left alone and she told them leave her alone and wait further up the road while she sat on the log which is also a bench. And guess what happened next!’

  ‘Tell me,’ said the Judge,

  ‘She disappeared. Just went. Course I stretched as high as I could, but no matter how much I stretched, I still couldn’t see where she had gone and couldn’t begin to think what she could be doing except perhaps that she had maybe spotted my shoe. But then . . . oh yes, I forgot to say she was wearing a beautiful long cloak and wouldn’t have wanted my shoe even if she had found it, which she didn’t. In any case we all know that one shoe is not a bit of good without the other and, not only that, but no one wearing such a beautiful cloak would ever want my shoe even if there were two of them. Anyways, while I was trying to think of some other reason why anyone with such a cloak would want to be scrambling around an old log, she came back up again. Just like that! Every bit as fast as when she went down, but this time she was facing straight at me and I knew right off who she was. Not that I didn’t have an idea who she was from the very start. Well, if you could have seen that coach and those beautiful horses you might have guessed too. Not only that, but I had seen lots of pictures of her. Matter of fact, Lilac has one of her with her daddy in a garden which had lots of flowers and a fountain. My Mum sometimes grows flowers near our front door, but not so many and we don’t have a fountain.’

  ‘No, I don’t suppose you do.’

  ‘Don’t you want to know who she was?’

  ‘Yes I do, but in a moment. First though, and if you don’t mind, I would like a word with your parents. He swung round. ‘Mr and Mrs Santino would you stand please. Thank you. Now I’m sorry to have to ask you this, but I would like to make sure you are aware that under Mandredelan law no child under the age of ten can be brought before our courts on what we call a misdemeanour charge and that no attempt has been made in any way by you or any other member of your family to influence your daughter Tiger Lilly as to the evidence she might give here today. I say that because it is easy to see how tempting it would be for a youngster wanting to help an older sister or brother be easily persuaded into give false evidence. You assure me that nothing of such a nature has taken place ’

  Lou Santino gave a vigorous shake of head. ‘No! I give my word. Nothing like that has been said to my daughter. Nothing.

  ‘Mrs Santino, do you also confirm?’

  ‘Yes I do. Absolutely I do.’

  ‘They said nothing to me. We are not that kind of family,’ exclaimed Pearl standing from her chair and in a voice that told she was close to tears.

  ‘Good, but I had to ask for it wouldn’t be the first time, I can assure you’ the Judge replied. He turned back to Tiger Lilly. ‘So, young lady, tell me what happened next?’

  ‘I don’t think I want to say anything more if you are going to be upsetting Pearl.’

  The Judge laughed out loud. All right, I’m sorry,’ he answered. ‘I’ll try all I can not to let it happen again. I promise.’

  ‘Right then. Well, not an awful lot happened after that, tell the truth. Of course she was soon up and being her same nasty self again, shouting loud as to deafen that she wanted to leave. And that’s what they did. Leave, that is.’

  ‘And then?’

  ‘Well, after I had waited a while and was certain sure she had gone, I bent down and reached under the log for my shoe. I found it in the end – well I had to or I wouldn’t have been able to carry on walking to the circus, would I? - but first I felt something under the log that didn’t feel like my shoe, or any other kind of shoe come to that, and when I pulled it out – well, there it was. The necklace!

  ‘Oh, and if only you could have seen it! No other word but beautiful! Honest, I tell you no lie, more beautiful and more sparkly than anything you could hope to see in all your life and that is the real true reason I put it straightways into my pocket and didn’t think twice about putting it in my pocket because all I thought was that it st didn’t seem right and proper to push such a beautiful thing back under the log as though it was nothing but a piece of old rubbish. Not that the log was the worst place ever at least it would be kept dry, but I suppose all logs are a bit grubby and I had to spit on my shoe and give it a good rub on the grass before I could put it on again. If you see what I mean.

  ‘Anyway, I showed the necklace to Pearl just as soon as I found her at the circus which didn’t take all that long because she was wearing a bright yellow
apron which I would have been blind not to see and as soon as she had had a good look at it she said straight off that we shouldn’t be having such a thing, not even for a minute and the best thing we could do was to put it back where I got it from. I could see right away she was frightened which made me frightened too because I had never seen her that way before and she said not to tell anyone and she took the necklace and put it in her pocket and said she would put it back under the log soon as she could and not to worry because once she had put it back under the log, no one would ever know we had ever had it. But the soldiers wouldn’t let her and they took her away.’

  Judge Grimstone leaned back in his chair, letting his eyes rest first on Tiger Lilly and then on Pearl. Finally, he said: ‘Tiger Lilly, strange as it might seem, I happen to believe everything you have said to me. Mind you, that’s not to say I am still not puzzled as to why anyone would want to push a beautiful necklace under an old log, walk away and leave it there. Doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘No, but true as true, that is exactly what she did. Stranger than strange, I know, but that’s what happened.’ She leaned forward. ‘Actually,’ she continued, ‘I’ve thought of something that will make you believe I’ve been telling the truth all along. It’s the handkerchief.’

  ‘The handkerchief?

  ‘Yes, silly me, I’d forgotten all about it until a minute ago when I thought Pearl was going to cry and I was wondering if she had brought a handkerchief with her to wipe her eyes. Then I remembered how the necklace was wrapped in a beautiful handkerchief when I pulled it out from under the log. It was so soft, soft as a rabbit ear and it’s what they call silk and it had a big letter ‘S’ in one corner. Embroidered.’

  ‘Indeed. And where is it now, this handkerchief?’

  ‘Well it was in my coat pocket last time I saw it. No, that’s also silly, isn’t it? I couldn’t see it if it was in my pocket, could I. Anyway you know what I mean.’

  ‘And where is your coat?’

  ‘It’s on the stool near the door where I was sitting. Next to where Lilac and the Constable are sitting. Least last I remember. Shall I go see if it’s still there?’

  ‘Yes, I think you should.’

  But before Tiger Lilly could move, there came the sound of whisperings, of a voice pleading and the sound of a chair being scraped noisily aside. The judge looked up to see one of the women he had thought part of a circus act pushing her way through the rows of chairs to stand in the middle of the room, pulling at her hood so that could see her face. ‘There’s no need,’ she said. Said it clearly for all to hear. ‘It’s my handkerchief. It belongs to me. It’s the handkerchief I used to wrap the necklace in before I hid it under the bench.’