The party in the parlor dispersed soon after this incident. Isigo and Di went out with Merry and Pippin, and Frodo sought any one of the Tooks who would be willing to explain the scene they had all just witnessed. Sam remained after everyone else had gone, and waited for the maidservants to come in and clear away the tea-things; Frodo had asked him to talk to Tilsey, and this was his chance.
When Tilsey and Elsey arrived and began their work, he offered to help. "Here, let me take those," he said, rising quickly to catch the precarious stack of teacups and saucers Tilsey had balanced in one hand while she gathered up more from tables and armrests around the room.
"Thankee, Shirr cups off the stack and carried them over to the nearest empty tray.
"Whyn't you call me Sam? My friends do."
Sam was never entirely comfortable among high-born hobbits like these North-Tooks, although he admitted that Lady Iris had been kindly enough to him; he was at his best as an investigator with common work-a-day folk. He understood their ways of thinking better than gentle-folk like Frodo and his Took and Brandybuck cousins could, and servants and other working hobbits were more at ease talking to him. From their first case, when Frodo had sent him into the servants' hall at Brandy Hall to learn all the household gossip, and pushed him to flirt with the maids to find out what they knew, it had been so. Since then, however, he had overcome his extreme shyness with girls and knew just how to gain their confidence.
"They've finished up early today," Elsey observed. "Sometimes, they don't leave off their tea 'til it's time to wash up for dinner and then we have to scramble to clear up and set the dining-table on time!"
"Sommat happened today that sent 'em off early," Sam said, "and right odd it was too." He told them about the scene between Hilbarus and Persifilla.
The two girls nodded knowingly. "It don't surprise me," said Tilsey. "Not the way she's treated him."
"How's she treated him?" Sam asked her.
By the time they had gathered up the last of the tea-things and Sam had offered to carry the heaviest tray back to the kitchen, both Tilsey and her sister were telling him all they knew about Persifilla Took.
"What was that about?" Merry wondered. "It wasn't as if I was flirting with Persifilla-"
"You were so," Pippin responded with a grin.
"Only to try and draw her into talk! If anybody was going to be jealous over it, it ought've been her husband, not Hilbarus. He isn't in love with her, is he?"
"Is he?" Pippin asked Isigo and Di. "He acts like he is."
Isigo nodded. "Everybody knows about it. He wanted to marry her, but she picked Ulfidius instead."
When Frodo left the parlor, he followed the main group of hobbits. It seemed that Althaea and her daughter had decided to go home earlier than they'd originally planned and would not be staying for dinner after all. Alhasrus ordered his sister's carriage to be brought out immediately, and while they waited into the front hall, he and his brother, their spouses, Diamond and Alamaric made their farewells to Althaea and Vidalia and hoped that the two would call again soon.
Frodo hung back from this group and did not speak; it was only when Althaea and her daughter were heading out the door, and the lady gave him a cool glance, that the others noticed his presence.
"I must beg your pardon, Mr. Baggins," said Alamargo, "and Master Brandybuck's as well, for my son's behavior this afternoon. I'm heartily sorry you should see it."
"Is that what your family quarrels were about?" Frodo asked. "Not all of them, of course, but I imagine it's caused a rift between your two families."
"I don't know what you mean, Mr. Baggins," said Alhasrus.
"I mean that Persifilla chose to marry your son instead of your brother's, and Hilbarus resents it still," Frodo explained. This was a guess on his part, but Hilbarus's behavior--and the reactions of the group--made him certain he had guessed correctly. "Come now," he appealed to them, "can't we be honest? It is my work to find out secrets. I will find the truth one way or another, and if you conceal something from me, it will only look more important to my investigation when it finally comes to light. The Thain would not want you to hinder me, but you've all deliberately kept things from me to try and protect each other. You've lied, sir."
"I lied?" the Thain's heir echoed indignantly.
"You told me that when your sister visited the night before your father's illness, she came alone. She said that she and her husband both came to dinner. You were all right here, and heard her say it as well as I did."
"That wasn't a lie!" Alhasrus protested. "I merely forgot. Valumus didn't stay very long that evening. He was indisposed, you see, and unfit for company. He sometimes is."
"He's a drunkard, you mean," said Frodo.
"Who told you that?" Diamanta asked sharply.
"I thought it was common knowledge, Aunt."
Florisel, who had joined the group while Frodo was speaking, laughed out loud.
"Was it you, Florisel?" Diamanta whirled to him. "You'd think it all a joke. Or was it you, Alamaric? I know you've been talking your head off to Merry Brandybuck."
"I hardly said a word about it, nor about Hilbarus and Persi," said Alamaric. "Honestly, Di, I never thought it mattered."
"Oh, what does it matter?" said her husband. "It is known. Yes, you're right, Mr. Baggins. Valumus had already drunk too much wine before he and Althaea came to us that evening, and he went away when we refused to give him more. He left before dinner was on the table and went home, I assume. Althaea stayed longer."
"And will you tell me about Hilbarus?" Frodo requested.
"I don't see what it has to do with your investigation, Mr. Baggins," said Aspid. "It's a private matter, and one that has caused our family much distress."
"It may have nothing to do with it," Frodo agreed, "but I'd like to hear the story all the same and decide for myself."
Alamargo stepped forward. "I will tell you about it."
"My dear-" his wife said. Diamanta and Alhasrus also looked distressed.
"It must be done," Alamargo told them. "He is going to find it all out sooner or later, and I for one would rather he know the truth of it than hear it as a lot of gossip from the neighbors and servants." He lay a hand on Frodo's shoulder, and directed him to a small sitting-room just off the front hall.
"I wasn't here when it happened," said Isigo. "The whole business was over and Persifilla was already betrothed to Ulfidius last spring a year ago, before Mother and I came to live at the cottage."
"But I was here to see it all," said Di. "I've watched 'em since we were all children together, 'though Persi's a bit older than me and not the sort I'd want to play with anyway. She only wanted to dress up dolls and put ribbons in her hair, and wouldn't ever dare do anything to muss up her clothes. She was Vinella's and Velda's friend."
"Who are Vinella and Velda?" asked Pippin, somewhat confused.
"Vida's older sisters. They've married and gone to live far away now. I never saw anything to like about Persi, but Hil was always gaping at her like a mooney-eyed calf. You see how he behaves now. He was even more silly about her before she got married. Since then, he's been horrid to everyone. I don't like her, but I say he got his just deserts. Who is he to stand in the way of other people when he's been kicked down in love himself? It ought to make him kinder, not meaner."
Isigo also looked pleased at Hilbarus's rejection. "It's Ulfidius I feel sorry for," he said.
"Why?" asked Merry. "What happened? Why did she pick him over Hilbarus?"
"You see," Alamargo explained as he made himself comfortable in the nearest chair, "Persi is the only daughter of Gradantius Took, a second-cousin of ours, and the second wealthiest hobbit in this part of the Shire after Father. Everything he and his wife own will go to her. Persi's grown up with our sons and daughters, and my Hilbarus has been sweet on her since he was of an age to notice girls. A match might've been made between them, but my brother and Diamanta had an eye on the girl for their own son, even if Ulfidius never cared particularly for her or she for him. Father approved it, and Glovina and Gradantius were happy at the prospect of seeing their daughter become a Lady of Long Cleeve, so Diamanta and Alhasrus gave Ulfidius a push to go court her."
"Didn't Persifilla object to this change of bridegroom?" asked Frodo.
"No," Alamargo said bluntly. "I don't believe she ever truly cared for poor Hil. She liked the attention he paid her, that's all. He flattered her, and practically tripped over his own feet to do whatever he could to please her. He even wrote poems! I think she would've been glad to have him if no other suitor came her way, but when she saw she could make a better catch of Ulfidius, she snatched him right up."
"And this has been a quarrel between your brother's family and yours since then?"
"There were some hard things said between my brother and me, between our wives, and between Hil and Ulfidius once the betrothal was announced," Alamargo admitted. "We had quarrels with Father too, as you've guessed, but he remained firmly on Alhasrus's side. He said that Ulfidius was the elder grandson, and heir, and had a right to first pick of a bride, if the girl would have him. Well, he was right about that. Persifilla made her own choice of husband. Believe me when I tell you that I no longer have a quarrel with my brother's family, Mr. Baggins. I see now that it was just as well that that girl didn't marry my son. It would've been nice to have her fortune in our family, but she would have made Hil a poor wife. You see how she treats him even now, and her husband as well. Your friend isn't the first personable young lad she's flirted with before one or the other, to see how they rise to it."
"But your son doesn't see it that way?" Frodo asked.
"No. I wish he did, but he still feels it strongly. He still loves her, against all common sense." Alamargo looked up at Frodo anxiously. "But you mustn't suspect he'd harm my father over it. What good would it do him? If Persi or Ulfidius were poisoned, I'd allow that you had a right to suspect my boy. But Father? No."
"Cold-hearted, Miss Persifilla was," said Tilsey as she and Sam piled the cups, saucers, and plates in the scullery sink. "Cold and grasping. We could see that even afore she married Mr. Ulfidius and come to live here at the Hall--isn't that right, Elsey?"
"Broke poor Mr. Hilbarus's heart," Elsey agreed.
"That's right. She tossed aside a boy who truly loved her just because Mr. Ulfidius'll be Thain one day and she wants to be a Thain's Lady," Tilsey went on. The third maid, Lacy, had been helping Mrs. Scrubbs with the vegetables for dinner, but left her chore and came over to help with the washing-up. "Doesn't care two pegs for Mr. Ulfidius any more'n she did for Mr. Hilbarus, if you ask me."
Mrs. Scrubbs came to the doorway between the kitchen and scullery. "Here, you girls," she scolded. "No more o' that tittle-tattle. Are you asking my maids questions again, Mr. Sherriff Gamgee?"
"His Thainship says Mr. Baggins and me can ask whatever questions we like," Sam responded.
"Not when we've work to do, you can't. This part o' the day is our busiest, with dinner coming so fast upon tea-time. If you're going to be underfoot in my kitchens, you give a hand, or come back and ask your questions later."
Sam said that he was more than happy to give a hand to the washing-up. Mrs. Scrubbs continued to regard him with suspicion, until an unexpected voice called to her from the servants hall on the other end of the kitchen. Lady Iris had come to request a moment of her cook's time, and Mrs. Scrubbs went out to talk to her.
"Does her ladyship come to the kitchens often?" Sam asked the maids as they began to wash the tea-things.
"I expect she's come to ask about the dinner," said Lacy. "See that it's fit for his Thainship and the rest o' them to eat. We've all been put off our meals since we heard tell o' this poison in the house, Mr. Gamgee. Poor Mr. Tulipant's been in a fearful state, sitting in his pantry and staring at that flask o' wine he took from his Thainship's study. Nobody's dared touch a drop o' wine."
"Her ladyship sometimes comes to sit and have a chat with Mrs. Scrubbs, when times aren't so busy," Elsey added. "They'll make a pot o' tea on the kitchen fire when it's late and her ladyship don't like to be a bother about having a tea-tray brought to her rooms."
"The best o' the fine folk are the ones as considers their servants' feelings," Tilsey said approvingly. "Her ladyship wasn't born so high as a Took, but she knows what it's like to be one o' us common-folk and she gives a thought to them that works for her. Not like that snobby Missus Persifilla, who don't give a thought to anybody but herself!"
"About Missus Persifilla," Sam said to her in a lowered voice. "You said as she was the one that poisoned his Thainship. Why d'you think she'd want to?"
Tilsey considered the question. "Well... I see it like this, Sam. When his Thainship dies, it puts her husband one step closer to being Thain himself, and her to be Lady o' the Cleeve. Who can say? If she gets away with it, Mr. Alhasrus and Missus Diamanta might be next!"
As Frodo came out of the sitting-room and went in search of Sam and his cousins, he found the latter with Di and Isigo at the point where the two corridors to the bedrooms forked. When they saw him, they came toward him eagerly.
"Frodo!" cried Pippin. "Wait 'til you hear! We've got the whole story about Hilbarus and Persifilla!"
"I've already heard it," Frodo told them.
Site Info
We are the home of 1292 authors from among our 2552 members. There have been 2904 reviews written about our 3820 stories consisting of 10734 chapters and 29400445 words. A special welcome to our newest member, Rosamundeb.Categories
Skin Change
Donate
Help us keep one of the oldest running LotR archives available to all. Even the smallest donation helps!
Many thanks to our previous donors!
Many thanks to our previous donors!
