by Evie Grace
‘Where have you been?’ Ruby said, when she went indoors.
‘I’m sorry. I …’ She didn’t know what to say: that Doctor Clifton had asked for her hand in marriage? It seemed so strange and out of the blue that Ruby wouldn’t believe her. ‘Doctor Clifton found some work for me, some extra notes to write up before I left.’
‘That’s odd,’ Ruby observed. ‘Did you write these notes in the sand? You have half the beach on your shoes. Oh, Hannah, have you been out gallivanting?’
‘No, I have not,’ she said hotly. ‘If you can’t say anything sensible, I’m going straight to bed.’
‘Hmm,’ Ruby teased. ‘Methinks one’s sister doth protest too much.’
‘What did you find to do today?’
‘I bought food for breakfast and put out our clothes for tomorrow. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten! We’re going to the Hall by the Sea.’
‘Oh yes, I remember now.’ She didn’t want to go – she would have preferred to sit quietly at home on her day off, reflecting on what had happened between her and Doctor Clifton. He’d said that he loved her. She wished she could have found a way of letting him down more gently, but what else could she have said? How would she face him when they next met? And how could she work with him again?
‘Grandma would have loved Margate,’ Ruby said as they left their lodgings the next morning, dressed in their Sunday best. Ruby’s attire was hardly modest, her curves spilling out from her low-cut bodice. Hannah had given her some lace, but she seemed to have forgotten it. ‘I wish she could have been here … Why did she have to die?’
Because she was old and weary, Hannah wanted to say, but she didn’t because Ruby had a tear in her eye. Hannah felt morose too, as thoughts of Doctor Clifton tumbled through her head. She wished Alice lived nearby so she could confide in her. Charlotte was too close to the situation, and she didn’t want Ruby blurting out her secrets to all and sundry, including their landlady.
‘What time did you say the Hall by the Sea opens?’ she asked.
‘The gardens at ten o’clock. At half past four, you can watch the animals being fed. There are concerts at three and half past seven, and a ball at nine.’ Ruby rattled the times off as though she’d learned them by rote from the posters which had been pasted all over town. ‘We must stay for the whole day.’
‘We can’t be out too late.’
‘Oh, you are a killjoy.’
‘I don’t mean to be.’
‘I’m sorry. Do you think we’ll see the lions?’ Ruby didn’t wait for Hannah’s answer. ‘Mrs Clovis told me that Lord Sanger keeps his circus animals at the menagerie – the old ones and those which are too young to perform. Hannah, make haste.’
They hurried along Marine Drive to join the throng queuing to buy tickets at the arched gateway into the mock ruins of old Margate Abbey, which had been built from rubble and flint at the side of the Hall by the Sea, the site of a former railway station and embankment. As they stepped into the gardens to the sound of a brass band and the sight of the sunlight catching the fountain on the lake, turning the spray into rainbows, Hannah’s heart began to beat faster.
She had never seen anything like it before, and neither had Ruby, who darted from one sight to the next like a madwoman.
They passed enclosures of wolves before entering the Round House to marvel at the bears and a giant sloth, then paid for a two-penny bag of food for the birds which flew on to their hands to feed, menaced by diving seagulls, until a small boy blowing a whistle and waving a stick chased them off.
‘We must give him a ha’penny for saving our lives, Hannah. I thought we were going to be pecked to death,’ Ruby laughed as she crumpled the empty bag into a ball and put it in her pocket. ‘Let’s go this way.’ Forgetting about the ha’penny, she pointed to a sign: To the Elephant.
Hannah hesitated, recalling her sister’s accident on the day the circus came to Canterbury.
‘Are you sure you want to see it?’
‘Of course. I want to see everything,’ she exclaimed.
Caught up in Ruby’s enthusiasm, Hannah linked arms with her and they hurried past flower beds filled with scarlet geraniums, pink dahlias and carnations, to an area of gravel where an elephant was standing with its handler and a small boy who couldn’t have been more than four years old.
The handler tapped the elephant on its shoulder with a short cane.
‘Pick ’im up, Charlie.’
The elephant waved its trunk slowly from side to side before reaching towards the boy. It wrapped its trunk around his middle and raised him off the ground. Hannah’s heart was in her mouth as the elephant began swinging him from side to side, making him laugh out loud.
‘He’ll be squeezed to death,’ she whispered.
‘You see danger in everything,’ Ruby chuckled out loud. ‘The boy isn’t scared.’
‘Children of his age don’t have any fear.’
‘Because there’s nothing for him to be scared of. The baby elephant didn’t mean to knock me over – it was my fault for stepping out in front of it. Look at this one – he’s playing.’
Hannah eyed the elephant with its thick, gnarled skin, tiny eyes and sagging sides, as it put the child down at its handler’s request. They carried on through the gardens, Hannah trying to keep up with her sister, and thinking that she must remember to tell Charlie that she had seen an elephant named after him.
After passing aviaries with exotic birds, they reached the menagerie where the doors swung closed behind them, trapping them in a humid haze of intense heat. They followed a line of visitors into the Prophet’s Cave, where coloured lanterns illuminated the strange forms created by the petrifying waters that trickled and dripped from the ceiling.
‘I don’t want to look at any more rocks.’ Ruby tugged impatiently at Hannah’s sleeve. ‘I’d rather watch the monkeys.’
Hannah felt uneasy – as though they were spying on the poor creatures, many of which looked sad, locked away in their dank cages. She counted thirty-five, but Ruby claimed there were many more, counting them four times over and coming to a different number each time.
‘This way, ladies. Mr Antonio Milani – lion tamer extraordinaire – is about to enter the den.’ A member of staff ushered them quickly along past a tigress – Eugene, according to the plaque attached to her cage – and leopards. ‘Renowned scientist, Professor Thursby Holt, is also with us today, to give a lecture on the nature of the lion, king of the jungle, afterwards.’
‘Why do you hesitate, Hannah?’ Ruby said very loudly.
‘Please, keep your voice down,’ Hannah said, not wanting Ruby to attract attention to herself. Recalling Pa’s regime of bland food, his idea of a cure for extremes of emotion, she wondered now if he might have had some cause to question her sister’s behaviour. Sometimes she worried that something wasn’t quite right.
‘Don’t tell me you’re afraid of the lions?’ Ruby teased. ‘Why, they’re just pussycats on a larger scale.’
‘Don’t you remember Grandma’s cat? He used to ambush me at the kitchen door,’ Hannah protested, remembering how the giant ginger tabby would run up her dress, clawing holes in it.
‘Poor Tibbs. You mistook his affection for aggression.’ Ruby reached the rear of the crowd which had assembled in front of the lions’ cage. ‘Oh, I can’t see a thing,’ she wailed, making Hannah shrink back as everyone turned their heads to stare at them. ‘What a shame.’
‘Let the young ladies through please, gentlemen,’ called one of the men from the platform in front of the cage which was built four feet above the ground. His hair was dark, almost black, flowing down over his shoulders. He wasn’t very tall – perhaps only up to her shoulder, Hannah guessed – but he seemed to be filled with an irrepressible energy. ‘Give those who are disadvantaged in height a chance to enjoy the show.’
If it was Antonio, he didn’t sound like a foreigner, but after the crowd had shuffled themselves according to his wish, he twirled his moustache and
fastened his bright red cloak, then spoke out with an accent that conjured up a vista of olive groves and lemon trees under a cerulean sky.
‘I should like to assure you, ladies, gentlemen and bambini, that taming lions is the most dangerous occupation in the universe. If I took one of you and put you into this cage, then Duke would most certainly bite your head straight off.’ He gazed at Ruby who took half a step back. ‘He won’t hurt me,’ he went on, addressing the crowd again. ‘I’ve worked with him for many years in the travelling circus, but no more. I’ve rewarded him with a well-deserved retirement, living out the rest of his days in the company of his ladies, our beautiful lionesses: Holly, Penelope, Esther and Pearl. This year he has fathered three cubs – sadly, the mother passed away, and we’ve had to find them a wet nurse of sorts, not another lioness, but a bitch.’
The crowd gasped, then fell into talking about how this could be, before the lion tamer raised his arm and cracked his whip, bringing everyone to silence.
A young boy unlocked the cage door and let the lion tamer in, before slamming it shut behind him, leaving him to the whims of a magnificent elderly lion and a single lioness, the others being shut behind bars at the rear of the enclosure.
As the great Antonio moved towards them, whip in hand, the lions slunk away.
Hannah glanced at her sister who was looking on, open-mouthed, transfixed by the lion tamer’s powers as the crowd applauded his bravery. Calling the lions back, he threw down his whip and took a rattan stick from his belt. They padded towards him, their bodies low to the ground. At the twitch of his stick, they froze, and Antonio walked between them, stroking their ears and rubbing their faces as they swished their tails. To Hannah, they looked as if they would turn and pounce at any moment.
‘He is well formed, don’t you think?’ Ruby whispered.
‘He’s a large lion, but I prefer the other one – the female is more lissom and delicate.’
‘I’m not talking about the lions. I’m talking about Mr Milani. Don’t you think he’s rather marvellous?’
‘If you’re asking me if I admire his skills in training those beasts, then I’m not sure I can give an answer. Does he rule by fear or mutual respect?’
‘I’m asking you about his appearance. He’s very handsome.’
‘Ruby, you are pulling my leg.’ If she’d met him on the street, she’d pass him by, hardly giving him a second glance, but she had to agree that he had a presence, an unwelcome one which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
‘I’m not,’ Ruby said, looking hurt.
‘You’re far too young to be having thoughts like that.’
‘I’m seventeen. I know ladies of my age who are already married.’
‘Pray, tell me who they are.’
‘One, then. The butcher’s boy told me that his sister wed at sixteen. By the time three years had passed, she’d had three children, and another on the way.’
‘That isn’t a good advertisement for marriage at a young age, if you ask me.’
‘Stepmother is always trying to persuade Pa to marry me off. Or she was …’ Ruby corrected herself. ‘She would say that Antonio was born under a fire sign: Aries … Oh no, it has to be Leo for the lion.’
Although she didn’t say so, Hannah was a little sorry that the lion tamer hadn’t put his head in the lion’s mouth, before he picked up his whip, gave it a final flourish and exited the cage to uproarious applause.
‘Thank you. Grazie. You are welcome to show your appreciation by leaving your donations in the box over there – all monies received go towards feeding these wonderful beasts. Now let us welcome Professor Thursby Holt who will give what I’m sure will be a fascinating talk.’
There was more applause while the professor took his place on the platform and pulled out a sheaf of notes from his coat pocket. He cleared his throat and started to speak, at which the crowd began to drift away discreetly. Hannah gave Ruby a gentle nudge.
‘Let’s go and have some tea,’ she whispered.
‘Not yet,’ Ruby said in a low voice.
‘Your time is up.’ The lion tamer stepped in front of the bewildered scientist. ‘We are tiring the lions – look how they yawn,’ he added, as the lioness opened her mouth to reveal her curved teeth, perfectly formed for piercing her prey. ‘A round of applause for the professor.’
Ruby clapped her hands and as Hannah joined in, she realised they were the only ones left.
‘Come on, Ruby. We should go.’
‘Ladies, there’s no hurry,’ Mr Milani called. ‘Allow me to introduce you to the cubs.’
‘That would be marvellous,’ Ruby said quickly. ‘We can have tea at any time, Hannah. This is my elder sister, Miss Bentley. I’m Miss Ruby Bentley.’
Ruby seemed so excited about seeing the cubs that Hannah decided there would be no harm in it. They moved to the next cage along where Mr Milani unlocked the door and shut the snarling bitch, a mongrel the size of a wolf, out the back.
‘That’s Tess. She’s very protective of her bambini,’ he explained. ‘Come on in. There’s no danger. The cubs are only four months old – their teeth are like needles, but I’ll make sure they don’t hurt you.’
Ruby followed him into the cage, her skirts rustling along the ground. Hannah hesitated outside. The stench of cat’s piss was beginning to get up her nose.
‘Miss Bentley?’ Mr Milani said.
‘I’ll watch from here, thank you.’
‘Whatever you wish.’ He pulled up a chair from the corner and invited Ruby to sit down.
‘You have a scar on your cheek, Mr Milani,’ she said, taking her seat.
‘Ah, I was staying with friends in the Italian mountains when a young girl was snatched from her cot by a lioness. There was screaming, shouting, hollering.’ He waved his arms to emphasise the drama of it. ‘My friends told me not to go after her, but I did, and I received this’ – he touched the ugly mark on his face – ‘for my trouble.’
‘You were a hero.’ Ruby’s voice was filled with admiration. ‘That must have hurt.’
‘I lost so much blood that I was close to death, but the pain was nothing compared with how I felt when I was injured running the bulls in Pamplona.’
Wasn’t Pamplona in Spain? Hannah wondered.
‘Let me place a cub upon your lap.’
Ruby squealed with delight as he picked up one of the sandy-coloured cubs and lowered it on to her knees. The cub hissed.
‘That isn’t how one should speak to a beautiful young lady,’ he smiled.
‘He won’t bite me?’
‘Oh no. I won’t let him.’ Mr Milani went down on one knee right beside her. ‘Trust me.’
The problem was that Hannah didn’t trust him an inch, the way he looked at her sister, like a lion, wanting to eat her up.
‘Ruby, we should go now.’
‘Not yet. Forgive my sister’s impatience.’ Ruby turned her attention back to the cub. ‘How do I stroke him, Mr Milani?’
‘Gently at first, then you can be more vigorous about it. The beasts appreciate a good rub.’
‘You don’t have to stay,’ Ruby called. ‘I’ll meet you at the tea room.’
‘I’ll wait.’ Did Ruby really think she’d leave her unchaperoned? Hannah thought crossly. What the lion tamer lacked in stature, he made up for in temerity. How dare he flirt with her innocent little sister! He was at least twice, if not thrice her age, although she had to concede he had the physique of a younger man.
Ruby got to sit with all three cubs on her lap, one at a time. When she was cuddling the last one, a man Hannah recognised came strutting up to the side of the cage.
‘Antonio, my friend,’ he exclaimed.
‘Allspice … can’t you see that I’m busy?’ Mr Milani said.
‘Too busy to help your brother-in-law in his hour of need?’ Mr Allspice asked. ‘May I have a quiet word?’
‘Whatever you wish to say, you may say it in front of the young ladies. I
would hate to cut their enjoyment short.’
‘Mr Milani, my sister and I are quite happy to leave you to your business,’ Hannah said quickly, although she was a little curious. When she’d met Mrs Allspice, she hadn’t given the impression of having Italian blood coursing through her veins. ‘Ruby, please.’
Ruby ignored Hannah while Mr Allspice turned to her, smiling.
‘Well I never, it’s Nurse Bentley. Antonio, this young lady was instrumental in makin’ sure Alan received the treatment ’e was entitled to.’
The lion tamer cast her a glance, seeming unimpressed.
‘I know what you’ve come to ask, and the answer is yes, but I’m not doing this out of charity or the goodness of my heart. It’s to help out my poor long-suffering sister and make myself a few bob in interest.’
‘As soon as the show’s back on the road, me, the missus and the boys will be in clover. I swear on my wife’s life that I’ll pay you back every shillin’,’ Mr Allspice avowed.
‘And you’ll make sure I appear at the top of the bill?’
‘I said so before, didn’t I? I ’ave friends in all the right places. But the cubs are too young, and I didn’t think you were plannin’ to perform with these moth-eaten old cats again.’
‘I wasn’t, but I’ve had a change of heart.’
It was all very sudden, Hannah mused, when he’d only just told them that the lions had retired from the circus.
‘I’ve never been top of the bill, even though there’s no one who deserves it more. Besides, I miss the excitement of being in the ring, the lights, the applause …’ Mr Milani stopped abruptly and looked Mr Allspice up and down. ‘You’re as slippery as a jellied eel. How can I trust you to pay me back?’
‘My word is my bond,’ Mr Allspice said. ‘We’re family anyway.’
The two men stepped towards each other, spat in their palms and shook hands, making Hannah recoil in disgust.
‘I’ll have the money ready for you this evening. I’ll meet you at the Queen’s Head at seven o’clock.’
