The Remains of the day

"The story was an apparently true one concerning a certain butler who travelled with his employer to India and served there for many years [...].

One afternoon, evidently, this butler had entered the dining room [...] when he noticed a tiger languishing beneath the dining table. The butler had left the dining room quietly, taking care to close the doors behind him, and proceed calmly to the drawing room where his employer was taking tea with a number of visitors.
There he attracted his employer's attention with a polite cough, then whispered in the latter's ear: 'I'm very sorry, sir, but there appears to be a tiger in the dining room. Perhaps you will permit the twelve-bores to be used?'

And according to legend, a few minutes later, the employer and his guests heard three gun shots.

When the butler reappeared in the drawing room some time afterwards to refresh teapots, the employer had inquired if all was well. 'Perfectly fine, thank you, sir,' had come the reply. 'Dinner will be served at the usual time and I am pleased to say there will be no discernible traces left of the recent occurence by that time.'"

Ishiguro, Kazuo: "The Remains of the Day", London 1989, S.36f.