The Attenbury Emeralds by Jill Paton Walsh

war and under the rigours of rationing it had been easier to pool resources, and although things were eased quite a bit by now, the Bunters’ ration books were still held by the cook, the meals were shared, and now and then both Mr and Mrs Bunter sat down to eat with the family.
    The Wimsey boys didn’t pick up the nuances, and regarded their parents as incredibly stuffed shirts. Bredon, the eldest, even made a habit of calling Bunter ‘Mervyn’. He had yet to grasp that this was unwelcome to Bunter, leave alone why it was, but he was, after all, only sixteen.
    Since Bredon and young Peter Bunter were on leave from Eton, dinner that evening was jolly and rowdy, and Peter affected the baffled parent pose all through it. Coherent conversation would have been difficult, and was not attempted.

    After dinner, however, Bredon and PB went off to play a game of real tennis at the Queen’s Club, and as soon as it was cleared the younger boys began a game of Monopoly on the dining-room table. Lord Peter and Harriet retreated to the drawing-room.
    ‘And then, Peter?’ Harriet asked. ‘What did you do about the villainous Mr Northerby?’
    ‘I havered a bit. What should I have done, Harriet?’
    ‘You should have gone straight to the police.’
    ‘Arguable. But I suppose I didn’t yet see myself as an investigator by trade or choice. I still thought of what I was doing as helping the Attenbury family. Friends of my mother’s. I suppose I could have asked them if they wanted young Northerby cast into irons. I’m afraid I didn’t. I decided to confront Northerby myself.’
    ‘Entirely by yourself?’
    ‘No; because Bunter would be there. I asked Northerby to call on me.’
    ‘And he declined to come?’
    ‘Yes. How did you know?’
    ‘Because that is what I would have done in his position.’
    ‘Ah. So I had no option but to call on him.’
    ‘And you found him not at home?’
    ‘Once, twice, three times. So I thought, Righty-ho, young fellow-my-lad, it’ll have to be the police. And then I thought perhaps the threat of the police would serve as well as Inspector Sugg in person. And it did. It brought Northerby round to my flat within an hour of receiving my note, and in a pretty foul mood.’
    ‘“Wimsey, I’ll thank you not to meddle in matters which are none of your business,” was his opening shot.
    ‘“I am acting in the interests of my family friends,” I said.
    ‘“You are sadly mistaken in your judgement of what they are,” he said. “How will harassing me help the Attenburys? Unless you were hoping to marry Charlotte yourself I cannot see what you think you are doing.”
    ‘“Recovering stolen property for them,” I said. “Perhaps I should tell you at once that I know where the emerald is.”
    ‘“I have nothing to say on this subject,” he said.
    ‘“I know where the emerald is, and I am minded to tell the police. I do not know what sum of money Attenbury would have to find to redeem his property, but the police can recover it without any cost to him at all. When they have done so I imagine they will want to talk to you.”
    ‘“You fool, Wimsey!” he said. “You meddling idiot! What do you mean by referring to the jewel as stolen? Why should I steal from my future wife?”
    ‘“I imagine because your debts were too pressing to wait for the marriage,” I said. I was having cold feet, Harriet. I had not yet met the bluster and affected outrage of the crook in the face of his accusers which have become wearily familiar to me in the years between.
    ‘“The gems are Charlotte’s,” he said. “And Charlotte knows all about this. It is outrageous to talk of theft and threaten me with the police. I demand an apology, Wimsey.”
    ‘“Charlotte knows about it?” I was very surprised at that.
    ‘“Of course she does. What do you take me for?”
    ‘“Then I take it you would have no objection to accompanying me now to the Attenburys’ London house and asking her to confirm