CHAPTER 19
The Princess was right. The coach was a rattly, bumpy thing that made her hold tight to her seat, that threw her from side to side at every curve and bend and Tiger Lilly loved every minute. Loved looking through the window; loved watching the world from a new inside.
‘How long did Miss Penny say we could have?’ she asked, not wanting the ride to end.
‘Half an hour. Told Master John not a minute more.’
‘Is that his name, the coachman?’
‘Yes, he’s been with us for ever, he’s our favourite. He’s very old, but he’s strict and when Miss Penny told him half an hour, half an hour it is.’
‘The horse, what did you say was her name?’
‘Bella.’
‘She is just beautiful! If only the horse we are supposed to be getting could be like Bella. But it won’t be, course it won’t. A clomping big elephant of a thing is what we’ll get.’
‘If we were friends, you could ride one of our horses. We have six in the stables right now and Penny and I go for a ride most every day.’
‘I can’t ride anyway.’
‘Miss Penny would teach you, she has all kinds of medals and ribbons in her room, awards she won when she was about sixteen or seventeen. Mainly for cross-country and show jumping. All kinds. I’ll ask if I can show you them sometime. That’s if you would like.’
‘You like Miss Penny a lot, I think.’
‘I’ve already told you I do, so why keep asking?’
‘Would you like her to be your mother?’
‘Honestly! Some people! What makes you want to ask such a stupid question? You seem to forget that I am a princess and everybody knows that royalty never talk about family matters to outsiders. Really!’
‘Miss Penny is not royal, so can I ask about her?’
‘I suppose. But one thing I can say is she wasn’t much liked when she first came as my governess. Not liked for ages and certainly not by me. Strict like you wouldn’t believe, which I think was the cause of my daddy going red in the face and shouting like he was going to burst into a thousand pieces every time they met. Awful it was with Miss Penny threatening to leave and my daddy saying he wished she would. I knew they didn’t mean it.’
‘What were they shouting about?’
‘Me. Which is why I knew they didn’t really mean it.’
‘Do they still shout at each other/’
‘Not so much these days. Hardly at all, come to think. And a funny thing! Miss Penny and I like to walk in the garden most afternoons, have a chat about the flowers and see what the gardeners have planted, that kind of thing, but lately he’s been joining us. I wouldn’t mind so much, but he always wants to talk about things that are not only boring, but dead-eyed boring. No other word. Goes on and on and on. Miss Penny is probably as bored as I am, but no use asking, she wouldn’t say, anyhow.
‘Why don’t you ask him if he would like to marry her?’
Serena heaved a huge sigh, turned to stare out of the window. ‘What I would like more than anything else is for you to be stop asking so many silly questions and let me decide the words I wish to say to the magic bench’’
‘I thought you said you didn’t believe in magic.’
‘I didn’t say that.’
‘You did!’
‘Well, did or didn’t, I’ve decided to make a wish and, before you ask, it is definitely something I want more than anything else in the world and I suppose in a way, it’s something I have wanted for ever.
‘Can I have a guess?’
‘No! No you can’t. Unless you happen to be guessing that I would like you to be quiet for a moment or two.’
And so, Tiger Lilly squeezed her lips, and while she was still trying her hardest to be the sort of person who hardy spoke unless she had a most important thing to say, they were stepping from the coach and sitting on the bench.
‘You first,’ said Serena.
Tiger Lilly squeezed her eyes as tight as they could be squeezed and wished for rain harder than she had ever wished for rain before.
‘You next,’ she said as soon as she had finished. ‘And don’t forget what Lilac said about it being something that has been deep in your heart for the longest of time – she suddenly she remembered she was going to be a person of few words - and then you can make your wish. I’ll wait in the coach.’
Serena was a long time.
‘How many wishes did you make, all that time?’ Tiger Lilly asked.
‘Just the one. There was another wish I would like to have made but I thought a lot about it and I think I can make it happen on my own, without magic.’
There was the biggest silence ever: Tiger Lilly not talking, being a quiet sort of person.
‘When I come to see Pearl shall I bring my shuttlecock set?’ Serena asked.’
Tiger Lilly nodded.
‘And whatever bats I have?’
Tiger Lilly gave another nod.
The coach stopped. ‘Here we are my young ladies,’ shouted Master John as he opened their door. ‘And you best be hurrying yourselves to the house. It’s raining cats and dogs. Pouring down!’
. .
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