The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Mysterious Phantom by Vicki Lockwood Read Free Book Online Page A

firmly. This time dust showered from the nail. Akula swayed beside Lizzie but didn’t move her foot.
    â€œThat’s perfect,” Hari murmured.
    Lizzie began filing the nail where it hung over the edge of Akula’s pad. She was concentrating so hard she barely felt Akula’s trunk snuffling her back.
    â€œThere,” she said at last, straightening and admiring her work. Akula’s toenails were short and smooth. She gave the file back to Hari. “You’d better do the back ones,” she said. “I don’t know how to make her swap legs.”
    Lizzie sat back in the straw while Hari moved the stool and began filing the toenails on Akula’s hind legs. Suddenly she realized how quiet it was here. Outside, the circus was bustling, but Hari was alone in the elephant tent. “Don’t you get lonely with just the elephants for company?” Lizzie asked.
    Hari shook his head. “I prefer it,” he said, patting Akula’s side. “Animals are easier to be around than people sometimes. They never hide what they’re really feeling. You never have to guess.”
    â€œI s’pose,” Lizzie said. She touched the bruise on her cheek — it had always been clear what Pa was feeling. Lizzie wondered suddenly about the Phantom. The show folk had been talking about him all day, shocked by the violent turn his crimes had suddenly taken. “What do you suppose the Phantom is feeling when he commits his crimes?”
    Hari went on filing. “I think he’s ashamed.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œBecause he wears a mask. People do that when they’re ashamed of themselves.”
    Lizzie remembered the ghoulish sketch in the newspaper. “Do you think it really is a mask?”
    â€œIt must be,” Hari insisted. “That’s no human face.”
    â€œSome people are saying he’s not human.”
    â€œOh, he’s human all right,” Hari argued. “ Very human. That mask doesn’t just cover his shame — it makes him feel bigger and better than he really is. Haven’t you noticed how people often use clothes to make themselves look important?”
    Lizzie pictured the rich folks on Oxford Street. They were always done up in silks and top hats, like they were more important than the beggars and tradesmen who had to wear what was needed rather than what they wanted.
    â€œI hope they catch him soon,” Hari said softly.
    â€œSo do I,” Lizzie agreed.
    â€œIf he’s turned violent, it means that robbery isn’t thrilling enough anymore,” Hari said. “If it’s excitement he’s after, he’s going to get more and more dangerous.”
    Lizzie tucked her knees under her chin and hugged them close. “I hope not.”
    Hari stepped away from Akula and slid the file into his back pocket. He smiled suddenly, his white teeth bright in the dusky light. “Come on.” He held out his hands, and Lizzie grabbed them and let him pull her up. “How would you like to sit on an elephant’s back?”
    Lizzie swallowed nervously. “I don’t know.”
    â€œHere.” Hari tapped Akula’s leg and she lifted it. “Put your foot up here.”
    Surprising herself, Lizzie climbed onto Akula’s knee.
    â€œUp, Akula, up!” As Hari spoke, Akula wrapped her trunk around Lizzie’s waist and hoisted her up into the air.
    Lizzie gasped as Akula sat her gently down on her back. She stared down at Hari. He seemed a hundred feet away. “It’s so high!” She wanted to laugh with exhilaration. She was sitting on top of an elephant!
    â€œLizzie?” Erin popped her head round the door.
    â€œWhat are you doing up there?” Nora asked, following her sister into the tent.
    â€œI’m being the Queen of Sheba,” Lizzie said proudly.
    â€œCome down!” Nora flapped her hands. “Malachy’s bringing someone to meet