"We shall have to speak again to Mrs. Scrubbs and that maid, Tilsey," Frodo said as they ascended the steeply slanted tunnel that led up from the scullery to the back door atop the hill. "Will you talk to them, Sam? Find out how long the cook has been acquainted with Lady Iris, and especially find out what Tilsey means by saying that Persifilla Took is a 'wrong un.' I've no impression of the young lady at all, except that she seems rather flirtsome for a married woman."
"She might've meant nothing by it," said Sam, huffing as he tried to keep up with Frodo. "A lady's maid'll take slights easy, if somebody like Missus Took was high-handed with her and put on airs."
"Perhaps, but ask her just the same. Chat with them all, as the opportunity presents itself. The more the servants are willing to talk to you, the more we are likely to find out about the Tooks. They like you, Sam, and the Tooks aren't eager to tell me anything. They've closed ranks over their family quarrels and shut their mouths tightly. The servants will know all about it. But for goodness sake, please don't tell any more embarrassing stories about me wearing Angelica's clothes!"
"Honest, Frodo, I never told 'em about that part o' it," Sam answered. "I only said as you disguised yourself so you could sneak out past them Longchalks, and never said disguised as what. You know I wouldn't."
They emerged through the door at the end of the tunnel, a round, wooden hatchway that lay at a slant on the hillside. A series of terraces had been cut into the slope around it, and the kitchen gardens laid out on them. Sam sat down on a split log that served as a bench and caught his breath while Frodo looked around. The neat rows of growing vegetables were sheltered by some dwarf apple and peach trees against a low stone wall, and a few stone outbuildings lay on the other side. At some distance beyond was a rubbish heap. Above rose the rocky crest of the hill like a ragged line of brown teeth. A single dirt road ran along the ridge below the crest. There were no laburnum trees, and the herbs that were grown and dried here were all harmless plants for common household use.
"Besides, there aren't no more stories to tell. You only wore Angelica's dress the once," Sam said, regarding his friend, "and you looked awfully pretty in it."
Frodo turned to give him a smile. "Why, thank you, Sam. You might also have a word with Jeddy's father. I know you won't mind having to talk 'shop' with another gardener."
Sam didn't mind, but he wondered where these questions he was supposed to ask were leading. "You don't suspect 'em, do you, Frodo?"
"Not Jeddy nor the maids, no, but the older servants are worth considering," Frodo replied. "Tulipant, of course, has access to the wine. Mrs. Scrubbs has a kitchen at her disposal where she can brew up whatever potions she likes without drawing attention, and the gardener could easily gather laburnum pods or other poisonous plants from the Thain's garden at his leisure. Perhaps they are all three working together." He laughed. "Well, at any rate, we must look into the possibility. I'm afraid, dear Sam, that the more we see, the more clear it is to me that the Thain's wine was poisoned while it was in his study by someone within the house--if not one of the servants, then one of the family."
"More likely to be one o' the family," said Sam.
"Yes," Frodo agreed, and sighed. "If Alhasrus is telling the truth, and he has little reason to lie, there were only a few visitors to the Hall the day before the Thain fell ill, when the wine was mostly likely poisoned. They are all members of the family too." As he repeated what Alhasrus had told him, he continued to look out over the landscape of the Cleeve. The view was magnificent from this height; he could see miles of the green valley, fields and farms, cottages boxed in by dark lines of evergreen hedgerows, clusters of buildings along dusty lanes, and on the far side, the matching wall of the westward hill. This part of the Shire was more rough and craggy than the rolling southern downs he was used to, but attractive in its own way. Frodo sometimes found it hard to believe that anything so terrible as murder could happen in such a snug and safe-looking valley, but experience had taught him that evil could flourish in the pleasantest places.
Down at the bottom of the hill, he could see that Merry was still sitting with Alamaric and he wondered what they could be talking about for so long. He also noticed a carriage coming up the lane toward the Thain's Hall.
"It an't going to be easy for none o' them in the end," Sam said.
"No. At least, Thain Brabantius seems to grasp that. He's not a foolish hobbit. He's had time to ponder the possibilities and what they will mean to all his family as well as himself if it turns out one of them has tried to kill him. For the others, it's a new idea, and not a pleasant one. They are already divided. The Thain's children and grandchildren dislike Lady Iris, and are happy to suspect her. They are afraid to consider it might be anyone else."
The carriage stopped before the Hall, and three ladies climbed out. The slope immediately below the kitchen gardens was too steep to scale safely without a rope, and so Frodo and Sam went back down through the kitchens to reach the front of the house. As they approached the front door of the Thain's Hall via the main tunnel, they could hear sounds of a minor commotion ahead. Alamargo and Alhasrus and their wives had already gathered to greet the ladies, and Alamaric and Merry had come indoors with the new arrivals. With the porter dragging in baggage as well, the front hall was crowded with hobbits all talking at once.
When they reached the front hall, Frodo could see the three ladies. One, Diamond, he recognized, although she appeared more mature and poised than she'd been when he'd last seen her two years ago; the other two were another young lady a little older than Diamond and far more poised, and a grand older lady. Both had Tookish features, and he could guess who they were before he heard their names.
"Althaea!" Alamargo greeted his sister while Aspid welcomed their daughter home with hugs and kisses. "And Vida, my dear girl, how lovely to see you. Hasn't Valumus come with you?"
"My husband is indisposed," Althaea replied.
"He's not very ill, I hope?" Aspid asked pointedly. "Poor Valumus seems to be indisposed so often."
"When he's in such a state, there's nothing to be done about it," Althaea answered shortly. "He prefers to be left alone, in peace and quiet. As long as we were to accompany Diamond home, I thought it best that Vida and I spend our afternoon here--if you don't mind."
"No, certainly not!" said Alhasrus. "Father will be so happy to see you."
"What's this news I've heard about your visitors?" She glanced back at Merry, who stood in the open doorway behind her, then looked over her brothers' shoulders to find Frodo and Sam at the other end of the front hall, and regarded them with curiosity and mild disdain.
"We have detectives in the house, Althaea. It's Father's idea. You know how odd he's been lately." Alamargo took his sister by the arm, and he and Alhasrus explained things to her in quick, lowered voices. Only fragments of their conversation could be heard. Vidalia also regarded the visitors with wide-eyed curiosity. Diamond met Frodo's eyes, and gave him a shy smile.
"We have heard about you, of course, Mr. Baggins," Althaea said once Diamanta had introduced them, "though I am astonished to find you and your friends here."
"I remember you, Mr. Baggins," Diamond added softly. "When I met Peregrin Took."
"Where is Peregrin?" Diamanta asked and looked around the front hall, as if she had only now noticed his absence.
"He and my Di and Isigo went off together," said Alamaric. "It must've been at least an hour ago."
"They're taking an awfully long time just to look at some trees," Merry observed in that same wry tone that Frodo had noticed before.
"Trees?" echoed Althaea with a note of puzzlement.
Frodo was ready to explain this part of his theory. Since discussing the question with Sam, he was fairly certain that laburnum was the poison used, and it was most probably extracted from seed pods gathered from the tree in the garden.
"You seem to be suggesting that someone in this house deliberately made up this potion to give to my father," Althaea said when she and the others had heard about the effects of laburnum poisoning.
"I'm afraid it looks that way, Mrs. Lowfoot. I've been given leave by the Thain to ask questions. I hope you won't object if I have anything to ask you?"
"But what can you wish to ask me?"
"I thought perhaps you might have seen something that could be of help to me," said Frodo. "You were here when your father was ill, weren't you?"
"Yes, I came as soon as I heard the news," Althaea answered.
"Your brother tells me that you were here before your father's illness."
"Yes, we came to dinner the night before, my husband and I." She glanced at her brothers, as if wondering which of them had brought Mr. Baggins and his questions upon her.
"What a horrid profession you have, Mr. Baggins," said Vidalia. "Prying into everyone's private affairs. Asking questions that are nobody's business to be asked! I don't know how a gentlehobbit can bear it."
"It is an unpleasant business sometimes," Frodo agreed, "but then murder is a nastier one. Our prying has found out quite a lot of murderers. You wouldn't want the person who did this to your grandfather to go around undetected, would you, Miss Lowfoot?"
"But grandfather hasn't died," the young lady responded.
"No, but the poisoner might take it into his head to try again until he succeeds, or to try the same trick on someone else."
"But you certainly can't think my mother has anything to do with it? Or my uncles."
"There is only one person it can be," said Diamanta. "Frodo knows who as well as we all do, and this investigation is a waste of time."
"I must say, I find the whole thing difficult to believe-" said Althaea.
"It is true, my dear," Brabantius, who had come down the hall from his study, being informed that guests had arrived. He and Iris were arm-in-arm. "The facts are there, and can't be avoided no matter how much we might wish it weren't so. Mr. Baggins has done only what I've asked him to, and you are to give him every assistance, Althaea, and you too, Vida... as I have already made clear to your brothers and cousins, and dear Iris." He patted his wife's arm.
It was interesting to see how the grown children of the Thain and their spouses, grand ladies and gentlemen, instantly turned into chastened children. As Althaea looked down, abashed, Frodo could detect a resemblance to timid little Diamond. The Thain was very old and had grown frail since his illness, but his will was still strong and he remained a force to be reckoned with in his own household.
There were more kisses and hugs of welcome from the Thain and his lady. Iris not only agreed that the guests were more than welcome to stay the afternoon, but invited them to dinner.
"But can't we please talk about something else?" she requested. "Such a disagreeable topic isn't fit for the dining room! It will put us all off our food."
Frodo begged her pardon. "You may rest assured, my lady, that the lunch will be quite safe," he said. "Sam and I were questioning the staff while your Mrs. Scrubbs was preparing it, and we can both vouch for its wholesomeness."
"I certainly hope so!" Iris laughed. "One has to trust one's cook, you know, and I would trust Mrs. Scrubbs with my life."
"We shall all have to," said Brabantius.
The group went into the dining room. Ulfidius and Persifilla had joined them by that time, but Diamond's brothers, Hilbarus and Helimarcus, were absent. The maids brought in the leg-of-lamb and covered dishes full of steaming vegetables to set on the table. As the Tooks and their guests took their seats, Alamaric said, "I wonder where Di and the lads have gone to? The poor things will miss lunch."
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