Louisa Mebbin successfully blackmails Mrs. Packletide into buying her a weekend cottage for six hundred and eighty pounds by threatening to tell the truth about their recent hunt in India. Mrs. Packletide chooses to pay this outrageous sum rather be disgraced in front of her peers—particularly rival socialite Loona Bimberton—if they learn she accidentally shot a goat, not a tiger. The weekend cottage is therefore a symbol of Louisa Mebbin’s cunning, as she bests a woman above her station to gain property and prestige. Mebbin’s not-so-subtle naming of the cottage as “Les Fauves,” meaning “The Wild Beasts” or “The Big Cats,” alongside planting tiger-lilies about the property, is a stark reminder to Mrs. Packletide of the power Mebbin holds over her.
The Weekend Cottage Quotes in Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger
Louisa Mebbin adopted a protective elder-sister attitude towards money in general, irrespective of nationality or denomination.
“How amused everyone would be if they knew what really happened,” said Louisa Mebbin a few days after the ball. “What do you mean?” asked Mrs. Packletide quickly. “How you shot the goat and frightened the tiger to death,” said Miss Mebbin, with her disagreeably pleasant laugh. “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.
Louisa Mebbin’s pretty week-end cottage, christened by her “Les Fauves,” and gay in summer-time with its garden borders of tiger-lilies, is the wonder and admiration of her friends.
Mrs. Packletide indulges in no more big-game shooting. “The incidental expenses are so heavy,” she confides to inquiring friends.
The Weekend Cottage Symbol Timeline in Mrs. Packletide’s Tiger
