The Why
Imagery quickly takes care of the why regarding the plot. Why does Mrs. Packletide need a tiger? Because she is engaged in a battle to death…of the high society sort. She and the improbably named Loona Bimberton have little else going on in Edwardian England so they spend their time trying to knock the other off the society pages. The imagery here ranges from a Biblical allusion to a legendary hunter to an airplane not even a decade removed from Kitty Hawk that would actually have been quite impressive at the time:
“The compelling motive for her sudden deviation towards the footsteps of Nimrod was the fact that Loona Bimberton had recently been carried eleven miles in an aeroplane by an Algerian aviator, and talked of nothing else; only a personally procured tiger-skin and a heavy harvest of Press photographs could successfully counter that sort of thing.”
The Who
Who is this story really about? Two figures take prominence from the beginning, but the imagery of their names subtly hint that these are not really to be taken seriously. Another character, on the other hand, sports a name easily dismissed as unimportant, but that would be a serious mistake. Mrs. Packletide’s predatory instincts is made manifest through a name that rhymes with jackal and, perhaps, Hyde. Loona Bimberton’s name almost immediately creates imagery that is even more unimpressive: she’s a loony bimbo. The third figure is introduced as simply Miss Mebbin and that is enough: in comparison to Packletide and Bimberton, her name almost couldn’t be any more boring. And when her first name is finally revealed, it is a merely a man’s name with an extra vowel attached, reflecting her rather masculine role in the story.
The What
What actually happens in the securing of the Bengal tiger with which Mrs. Packletide will spectacularly one-up Loona’s little flight is never ambiguous. Except in the telling, afterward. And therein lies the what of the story: what happens versus what people believe happened. In that difference will be revealed the true character of Miss Mebbin, foreshadowed quite explicitly in this imagery that sums up the whole event:
“It was Louisa Mebbin who drew attention to the fact that the goat was in death-throes from a mortal bullet-wound, while no trace of the rifle's deadly work could be found on the tiger. Evidently the wrong animal had been hit, and the beast of prey had succumbed to heart-failure, caused by the sudden report of the rifle, accelerated by senile decay.”
The Wow!
Miss Mebbin proves once again that being born to wealthy does not necessarily equate to being born with intelligence. It is the woman that Packletide actually pays to be her friend who winds up benefiting more than anyone from silly little games that occupy too much time of the rich socialites. Notice the way that the author uses imagery in the following exchange of dialogue that includes color referencing, circumlocution, and purposeful ambiguity within the actual dialogue that begins with a seemingly offhand remembrance by Miss Mebbin that no tiger was actually harmed in the making of this lie…at least no tiger was actually—technically--harmed by her employer. What is being conveyed in this exchange is conveyed entirely through imagery as neither character actually comes right out and admits that the subject is blackmail:
"No one would believe it," said Mrs. Packletide, her face changing colour as rapidly as though it were going through a book of patterns before post-time.
"Loona Bimberton would," said Miss Mebbin. Mrs. Packletide's face settled on an unbecoming shade of greenish white.
"You surely wouldn't give me away?" she asked.
"I've seen a week-end cottage near Darking that I should rather like to buy," said Miss Mebbin with seeming irrelevance.
