Strange Jest: A Miss Marple Short Story by Agatha Christie (1941, revised 1969)

Jane Helier, a friend of Miss Marple's introduces her to two young adults named Charmian and Edward. She thought that she would be able to help them uncover a mystery they have been trying to solve.

Upon speaking with them they were looking for some treasure that their late great great uncle Mathew had left for them. They did not have much to go on and they had already searched all the grounds and inside of the home that Mathew had left to them.

So they invite Miss Marple to come to the property to help them search. To everyone's shock they two had practically dug up the entire grounds and were planning on making it all into a garden. Miss Marple advises them that they have probably searched too much and its probably hidden in plain site. They unfortunately do not give Miss Marple enough credit for the words of wisdom she was trying to tell them. She asks if she can look through their uncle's papers to try and find a clue but Charmian insisted that there was nothing there, but Miss Marple took the time to organize them and fully read them.

Miss Marple came to the conclusion that it must be a small hidden panel or drawer on a piece of furniture. The two young adults said they already called out a cabinetmaker and he already found any secret compartments and they had already gone through all of that with no luck.

However Miss Marple was insistent on looking in Mathew's escritoire, a style of desk. Charmian pulled out the hidden compartment and showed her that nothing was in it. She told the young lady that the man that came out to inspect everything was probably young and did not know everything there is to know about older antiques. She looks inside and pulls a bobby pin from her bun, pokes it inside a very small pin hole and a small compartment unlocks. In there are letters in envelopes and a recipe for ham and spinach. The two are very frustrated and are starting to believe the treasure was nothing more than a joke on their uncle's part. But Miss Marple ensured them that there was indeed something to be had there. The most important thing in this drawer were not the letters or the recipe, but the envelopes. It took the two young people a while to understand this but they eventually figure it out after Miss Marple explains it more plainly to them. Then she tells them of a story about her own uncle one Christmas and it very much was close to their own.

Respect your elders. Clearly something Charmian and Edward had never heard of. On multiple occasions when Miss Marple is trying to tell them things, she has a tendency to go on tangents so they lack interest and are confused about what she is telling them. Plus they lacked respect for their poor uncle Mathew's place. I don't think he ever intended to have his entire two acre property to be dug up and be used for a garden. They are very ignorant about most things and Charmian shows quite a bit of arrogance towards Miss Marple in the end of the read. I am grateful that Miss Marple was able to help them but at the same time I don't believe they were even deserving of uncle Mathew's treasure. Thankfully the kind of treasure he gave it might take them a very long time to figure how to use it, so maybe it was the perfect kind of treasure for two young ignorant adults.