‘And a sable muff.’

‘Young, you say?’ Gerald enquires from the second armchair. ‘Did they catch them?’

Harriet shakes her head. ‘No. I went to look at the hats in my lunch hour – you should go, Mummy, they have some very lovely creations – but one of the shop girls was in floods of tears. They’d taken the goods from her station, you see. I think she may have lost her job. But I gave her half a crown and she told me everything about the thief.’

‘Half a crown?’ Ralph chuckles. ‘Is that what information is worth, I wonder?’

‘Well, I had the story,’ Harriet says, flushing. ‘And a full description of one of the thieves. Like a film star, the girl said. Short black hair and painted red lips. Around eighteen years old, she thought. And a pretty thing, on her account.’

‘Well, now I am interested,’ says Ralph.

‘Oh, it defies belief,’ Isabel says. ‘Why must they steal? And from a lovely place like Hartleys?’

Harriet shrugs. ‘I understand this one is part of a gang, a group of women who call themselves the Forty Thieves. Inspector MacKenzie was there, Daddy. They’re notorious, he said.’

‘They are,’ Ralph agrees. ‘And they’re becoming a menace. Larger stores are having to hire store walkers, women trained to wander around looking out for thieves, like policemen.’

‘I’m sure that Arthur MacKenzie will be doing his utmost to keep them in check,’ Gerald says. ‘We should have the MacKenzies round for dinner again, Isabel…’

‘I think they sound rather daring,’ says Harriet. ‘It takes some bravado to walk into a shop and walk out again with a mink coat. I should like to meet them.’

‘Oh, Harriet,’ Isabel says with exasperation. ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘Well, I should.’

‘Ralph, talk some sense into her, would you?’

‘Your mother’s right, I’m afraid, Harriet,’ Ralph interjects, seeing his hostess begin to bristle. ‘These are hard, criminal women you’re talking about, certainly not the sort you should be meeting. They live like sewer rats in Southwark and then come swarming over the river to raid shops like Hartleys.’

‘Do rats swarm, Ralph?’ Gerald asks, absently, lifting his glass to his lips. ‘I thought that was bees…’

The butler taps the door to announce that dinner is ready to be served and the question of how rats and bees travel in number is left unanswered. Harriet gives her hand to Ralph as they follow her parents.

‘I wonder, shall I have the opportunity to steal you for a few moments tonight, darling Harriet? Just the two of us?’ He murmurs softly into her ear as they walk. ‘I’ve been thinking of you all day.’