The Attenbury Emeralds (4 page)

‘“She should not have spoken to you like that. I shall have a word with her and it will not happen again.”

‘“I wish you wouldn’t take it up with her,” I said. “Rather reinforces the idea that I can’t look after myself, don’t you think? Best left alone.”

‘“If you think so, Peter,” she said. “Now, I must be off with these flowers. The staff need them for the table setting.”’

3

‘I didn’t see Osmanthus again until I got back from my walk. The party were at play – the young at tennis and the older at croquet, and Attenbury himself was playing a round of bowls when Mr Whitehead from the bank arrived. Attenbury asked me to see to Osmanthus’s little business with the jewels, and bid him farewell. He didn’t want to break off his game.

‘So I galloped back into the house, and intercepted Whitehead and took him to meet Osmanthus in the library. It was dashed awkward. Whitehead was very reluctant to open the jewel case for anybody except family. Quite right, I suppose. Anyway, in the end I got Lady Attenbury to come and lend her authority to the proceedings. Whitehead got a written receipt for the jewels he was carrying, and we opened the case. The Attenbury emeralds were a parure – a complete suite of jewels. There was an ingenious setting which could be worn as a necklace with the Mughal jewel hanging from it, or inverted as a tiara with the jewel suspended in it at the centre. There was a separate clip with a pin on it, so you could wear the centre stone as a brooch if you liked. There was a bracelet and pendant earrings and three rings. They were all big emeralds, mounted in platinum with a snowstorm of tiny diamonds – quite dazzling things, in which to be honest the big square carved centrepiece looked rather sombre. Obviously the big stone could be detached from the setting, because it could be suspended either way up, depending if you were wearing it as necklace or tiara. It had not been drilled, but was mounted in a gold clip with a little loop.

‘Anyway, Osmanthus put down his jewel, and Lady Attenbury unhooked the one in the parure, and they were laid side by side. They were identical from the front. A swirl of leaves and a single flower had been cut into each. When they were turned over there was indeed an inscription on the Attenbury jewel, partly obscured by the mount. Osmanthus expressed regret that he could not read it all, and Lady Attenbury picked up the jewel, and unclipped it from the mount. Osmanthus took a jeweller’s loupe from his pocket and examined it carefully.

‘“What does it say?” I asked him.

‘He said, “It means: ‘
I will not cease striving until I achieve my desire
…’ This is indeed one of the jewels we are trying to trace. I think my master the Maharaja will offer to buy this stone from you, Lady Attenbury.”

‘“It is not for sale, Mr Osmanthus,” she said.

‘So he bowed, and made fulsome thanks and said that at least the family he served could be sure that the jewel was safe. There were many Indian princely families sending their jewels to Cartier and others to be re-cut in western style, he said. Obviously nothing of that kind would happen to the Attenbury jewels.

‘Lady Attenbury made no reply to this remark. She replaced the jewel in the clip and put it back in the silk-lined box, and courteously but firmly bade Osmanthus goodbye.

‘She offered Mr Whitehead tea, but he declined, having a train to catch, and the two of them were shown out of the house together.

‘I was glad to be done with dealing with this for Attenbury; I didn’t think it was quite the thing, although I was an old family friend. Lady Attenbury didn’t think so either. “We have been imposing on you, Peter,” she said. “Although of course, Arthur is very busy with so many guests in the house.”

‘“A pleasure, I assure you,” I said. “I am lucky to have seen the things so close up. What dazzlers.”

‘“I can’t imagine what Arthur was thinking of, letting that fellow near them,” she said. “And as it is, we should perhaps have left them in the bank. Charlotte doesn’t want to wear them. She says they are grim and horribly dated, and couldn’t she just borrow my pearls.”

‘“All the girls like pearls,” I said, foolishly. Privately I rather agreed with Charlotte.’

‘Why, Peter?’ asked Harriet.

Bunter, presumably having decided the conversation would be long and rambling, had resumed dusting books.

‘Well, Charlotte was certainly a beauty,’ said Peter, ‘but of a pallid kind. Very light brown hair, pale hazel eyes, slender and willowy. There wasn’t much substance to her. She became a fine figure or a woman, but she was a wispy sort of a girl back then. And those great jewels take a bit of wearing, Harriet. They take a bit of carrying off. If they are more striking than the woman wearing them they quench her fire. You could have worn them…’

‘“Nobody asked me, sir, she said.” And I would have been as reluctant as Charlotte. Green is not my colour.’

‘Well, there we are. Lady Attenbury told me she had told Charlotte sharply that the emeralds were to be her father’s marriage gift to her, and she must wear them when she was told to. Then she took the jewels from the library to the little safe in her bedroom, and we all pottered about until it was time to dress for dinner.’

‘There was an element of showing off the dowry?’ Harriet asked.

‘Precisely. Well, so we all went down for drinks at the appointed hour. Charlotte didn’t appear, but I supposed she could be forgiven for wanting to make a grand entrance. I had time to study the prospective fiancé. He addressed a few nondescript remarks to me, but naturally his chief concern was to be charming to his future parents-in-law. Discreet flattery was his line of talk. Asked me about my regiment. Asked Gerald about the estate at Duke’s Denver. Asked Freddy about prospects for investing in South American railways. Thoroughly presentable chap. Awfully boring. Attenbury seemed pleased with him. Lot of talk about how the golf had gone. I could hardly have endured it if Lady Attenbury hadn’t noticed my difficulty and plied me with questions about the books in the library. Well, everyone had been assembled for some time. Even little Ottalie was there, done up Adèle-style, with her nanny sitting in a corner beside her. Special dispensation – she was allowed to stay to see Charlotte in glory, and then she had to scamper back to the schoolroom. She told me that herself.

‘Time went on, and both Lady Attenbury and Lord Attenbury began to glance discreetly at their watches. I saw Lady Attenbury beckon the butler, and speak to him quietly. In his turn he spoke to a maidservant, who put down her tray of glasses and left the room. Miss Sylvester-Quicke eased her way through the crush and said to Mr Northerby, “Where are your people, Reggie? I should have thought we might have seen them tonight.”

‘“My father has retired from the army, Miss Sylvester-Quicke,” said he, “and is now in charge of extensive tea plantations on the lower slopes of the Himalayas. My parents are sorry not to be here. They are delighted at…all this,” he finished lamely, stopping himself from making an announcement that Lord Attenbury would shortly be making.

‘“Good heavens!” said she. “Delighted? I should rather think they would be!”

‘On that far from tactful remark there was a hush, as Charlotte entered the room. She was indeed all festooned about with emeralds, her cheeks were flushed, and she looked very flustered. As she moved towards her father the gong was sounded, and we all went in to dinner. Freddy and I were placed at the foot of the table, with a good view of the company. I wondered what had upset Charlotte, though whatever it was had transformed her – she didn’t look pallid one bit.

‘“A lovers’ tiff?” suggested Freddy,
sotto voce
.

‘“If so, he’s a cool customer,” said I. For Reggie Northerby didn’t seem perturbed at all. He hadn’t been late coming down, he had had two glasses of champers at least before the gong went. And he was now regarding his girl with a combination of admiration and puzzlement, seemed to me. Granted, a man may smile and smile and be a villain, but it takes nerve. Anyway, I knew only too well how over-heated one can get in the feelings department when it’s young love at stake.

‘Dinner ran its course after course, and at our end of the table the talk was quite jolly. Freddy asked Amaranth what she thought of the emeralds. She turned her head to look down the line of candlesticks to where Charlotte was sitting, and thought for a moment. Then she said, “They’re big.”

‘“Don’t know that they quite live up to their reputation,” said Freddy thoughtfully. “Isn’t that centre stone very famous? Reggie had better watch his step.”

‘“It’s hard to see from here,” I said, kicking Freddy under the table. Mrs Sylvester-Quicke, who was sitting next to him, had a reputation as a terrible gossip. A friend of that woman columnist in
the Tatler
. And it was true – what with the silver and the candlelight, and the chiaroscuro from the Bohemian glass chandeliers overhead, we couldn’t see clearly. Though I thought I saw Charlotte’s eyes bright with tears.’

‘Doom, doom!’ said Harriet.

‘What?’ said Peter.

‘A comment on your narrative technique,’ said Harriet. ‘We have reached the
Little did they know
juncture.’

‘So we have,’ said Peter. ‘On, on. We got to speeches and toasts. Attenbury talked very nicely about Charlotte, the apple of her parents’ eyes, the very pineapple of perfection, as sweet-tempered as she was beautiful, to make a perfect wife for the lucky young man. Excellent fellow. Welcome addition to the family – that sort of thing. Reggie made a short speech expressing his thanks for the welcome he had received, and the trust reposed in him, above all by Charlotte whose love he would endeavour to deserve. He read out a telegram from his father and mother in Darjeeling, conveying pride and joy. Calloo, callay all round.

‘Then Lady Attenbury rose from her seat, and led the ladies off to the drawing-room, and the port and cigars were brought in. A lot of manly talk then – a bit of politics. Denver was worrying about the drought. The young wheat was dying in the fields, and even fruit orchards were dropping the prospective fruit. Ansel grumbling about the first woman to become a barrister. What was the world coming to? Pender wondering if Chamberlain would be tough enough on strikers. But of course by and by the talk came round to those emeralds.

‘“It’s a damn generous wedding present, Attenbury,” said Sir Algernon Pender.

‘“No more than she deserves,” said the proud father.

‘“Course, people have a thing about emeralds,” Pender went on. “My wife prefers sapphires, thank God.”

‘Captain Ansel said to Freddy, “Aren’t you something of an expert about emeralds? Didn’t I read a piece of yours from my stockbrokers about investing in them?”

‘Freddy humphed modestly, and said that yes, advising on investing in gemstones was one of his lines.

‘“Well, tell us all!” said Sir Algernon. “What’s so special about them?”

‘“They are green,” said Freddy feebly, to gales of laughter. “No, I mean it. They are greener than sapphires are blue or rubies are red. And they are rare. Old emeralds all come from Colombia. The Spanish tortured the natives to find the location of the mine. That way they found the Chivor mine. Then they looked for others nearby, and they found the Muzo mine. They used native labourers in murderous conditions to dig the stones out. They couldn’t use explosives, because that would have shattered the stones. The suffering was horrible, but the stones were wonderful, the deepest green, clearest, gem-quality emeralds. These are called ‘old mine’ stones. They are the finest, and the original Muzo stones are the next best.”

‘“You surprise me, Arbuthnot,” said Pender. “I’ve always thought of emeralds as coming from India.”

‘“Ah, well, Pender,” said Freddy sagely, “The Colombian emeralds were all sent to Spain, naturally. But gems don’t stay put. They go where the money is. And at that time the wealthiest people on earth were the Indian princes, great maharajas and Mughal nabobs among them. They had acquired a taste for emeralds from the small bright stones found in Afghanistan or Egypt. They paid fabulous fortunes for the Colombian glories. So by the time the Colombian mines had given of their best the loot was in India, for the most part.”

‘“That’s all very interesting, Arbuthnot,” said Captain Ansel. “But I still don’t see why emeralds are so expensive. Damn things cost more than diamonds.”

‘I had noticed that Mrs Ansel was wearing an emerald brooch, and I thought he was speaking with feeling.

‘“It’s rubies that time is more precious than…” I offered, but nobody took me up on it. I needed a literary soul for that game, and there was none present. Freddy launched into an attack on diamonds.

‘“There’s lots of fun in diamonds,” he was saying. “And they do come in various tints and colours. But the fashion is for clear-water stones, so the more valuable they are, the less distinctive. Whereas emeralds – highly recognisable. With large stones no two are the same.”

‘“One can tell where they were mined, you mean?” asked Ansel.

‘“Much more than that,” said Freddy. He was enjoying all the attention. “There’s no such thing as a flawless emerald. Emeralds have flaws and inclusions. Little crystals of pyrite, calcite and actualité. Drifting veils within the stone – the French call this
jardin
. Lots of personality. Someone who has looked closely at an emerald could tell it again even if it has been re-mounted, or carved or re-cut.”

‘By this time everyone within earshot of Freddy was listening to him. The estate talk continued at the other end of the table, where Gerald and Attenbury were deep in their landed concerns, but Northerby, who was sitting halfway down the table, was now riveted by Freddy, and leaning forward to catch every word.

‘“I say, Arbuthnot,” said Pender, “do you mean to say that you could identify one of Attenbury’s emeralds even if it was out of the set, just from the stone alone?”

‘“I couldn’t,” said Freddy cheerfully, “but I know a man who could. And if one of those stones were to go walkies, there would be a man in London who knew it by sight, and a man in Paris, ditto, and several chaps in Amsterdam, and someone in Geneva…need I go on?”