Florisel returned with Frodo to the Thain's Hall, and they parted company before the front door. Florisel went inside, while Frodo met with his friends in the garden; they had a brief conference and made a plan before they went to lunch at Alamaric's house. Their host, as they had discovered yesterday, was a more relaxed and genial gentlehobbit than his relatives next door. Although his home was not so impressive as Brabantius's, the four guests felt more comfortable here. Alamaric also felt himself far enough removed from the investigation that he was not on his guard against them, and took a spectator's interest in the proceedings.
"How is your investigation coming along, Mr. Baggins--may I call you Frodo, since you are my daughter's friend? I believe you meant to call upon Althaea and her family this morning."
"Yes, I did."
"And met Valumus? What did you think of him?"
"He is an- ah- unusual hobbit," Frodo answered tactfully.
Diantha laughed. "A tipsy clown, you mean."
"Yes," Frodo agreed, "but his wife and daughter seem devoted to him, and extremely protective."
"They are," Alamaric said, and regarded Frodo with solemn interest. "I take it that you suspect Valumus--or Althaea, perhaps--of having something to do with the poisoning?"
"I have suspicions," Frodo admitted, "but nothing more at this point."
"Poor Althaea! I hope it wasn't her. What about the rest of you lads?" Alamaric asked his other guests. "Have you discovered anything remarkable, besides our family scandals?"
"Uh- naught so far," Sam said gruffly and somewhat guiltily, for he hadn't spoken to Mrs. Scrubbs this morning but had spent his time brooding over personal matters.
"We've been matchmaking," Pippin said, and exchanged a grin with Diantha, whom he had included in his plan; while he'd been encouraging Isigo to speak to Diamond, Diantha had been praising Isigo to her timid girl-cousin.
"I've been chatting with some of the family," said Merry.
"Persifilla and Ulfidius?" Pippin asked him archly.
"They were there, yes, but so were Aunt Di and the other ladies," Merry retorted. "They didn't say anything interesting. Everybody was on their best behavior with me in the parlor, but they had to put up with me there. I mightn't be as important as a Thain, at least not in these northerly parts, but it's occurred to them that the Master of Buckland is somebody it doesn't do to insult. I consider myself lucky that they don't have any unmatched girls in the house to try and push at me."
"I doubt Aunt Di would try it even if they did," Pippin said, teasing. "She knows too much about you, Merry."
"I did learn one interesting thing," Merry said, ignoring this jibe. "About Mrs. Goodwood, and how she came to live at the Hall."
"Aunt Istra?" asked Di. "She's not one of your suspected persons too, is she?"
"I wanted to know more about her," said Frodo. "What did you find out, Merry?"
"Mr. Goodwood used to work for the Thain as a land agent, like Lady Iris's first husband, but here in the south," Merry reported. "When he died, she was left without resources and wanted Brabantius to do something to help her. This is according to Aspid, her sister. She says that Mrs. Goodwood came to her and asked her to speak to the Thain for her. Aspid says that she and Alamargo interceded on Mrs. Goodwood's behalf and got Brabantius to invite her to come live at the Hall. There really wasn't anywhere else she could go."
"Yes, that's right, but that was ten years ago," said Alamaric. "Istra wanted a little home of her own to live in, but she had to take what was offered. Since Iris married Uncle Brabantius and that cottage where she and Isigo lived is empty, Istra's been asking for it. I suppose she feels she's been slighted. After all, her position and Iris's weren't very different when they were first widowed, but she's been a poor dependent in the Thain's Hall, while Iris was set up comfortably even before Uncle Brabantius took it into his head to marry her. But of course, Istra was never a beauty, even in her youth. Surely you can't believe she'd try to poison Brabantius because he didn't favor her?"
"I think that after living on his charity and taking what she's been offered, that lady has had long years to let her resentments against him and the Took family grow," answered Frodo.
Di laughed. "Not Aunt Istra! She never does anything but gossip and knit."
"It seems to me that there are a lot of people in that household who bear resentments. Why didn't you tell Merry about Hilbarus and Persifilla, and how her marriage to Ulfidius divided the Tooks, sir?" Frodo asked Alamaric. "You told him so much that was helpful to us yesterday, it seems odd that a scandal so large was omitted."
"I beg your pardon, Frodo--I never thought that it would concern your investigation," Alamaric replied. "It's old gossip these days, and all in the past now."
"But everyone was anxious that we not find out about it," said Frodo. "When I asked Alhasrus about family quarrels earlier, he denied that they had any. No one was willing to tell me anything."
"I'm not surprised," said Alamaric. "It was all very distressing at the time. Things were said on both sides I'm sure they'd rather forget. The quarrel split the household apart, until Iris married Uncle Brabantius and gave them a common enemy to bring them back together again. But, as I've said, it was all settled and done with months ago. Persi's married to Ulfidius for better or worse, and Hil can do nothing but stew over it. If there are any hard feelings left over, I doubt they've anything to do with who put poison into Uncle Brabantius's wine."
"I don't know if that's so, Poppa," Diantha said gleefully. "It wouldn't surprise me in the least if Persi went around poisoning people. I wish it was her, or else Hil or that even more awful brother of his."
"Hush, darling," her father scolded gently, but with an underlying tone of real rebuke. "You mustn't say things like that, even in jest. This is a serious matter. Even if our friends here realize you're only joking, it doesn't do to accuse people simply because you don't like them."
"D'you mean you wouldn't be happier if it turned out to be one of those stuck-up lads or prissy Miss Persi, who've always been mean to me, instead of Aunt Iris?" Di asked back, unabashed.
"I would be much happier if it turned out to be somebody I don't know at all and wasn't related to," Alamaric answered, "but unfortunately I don't see much chance of that. It is somebody within the Thain's Hall, isn't it, Frodo, or our family outside?"
"I'm afraid there are only a few people who could have tampered with the Thain's wine," said Frodo.
"That's why you suspect Aunt Althaea, isn't it?" asked Diantha. "She was at the Hall right before Granduncle was so ill."
"And Valumus left before dinner that night--or so he claims," Alamaric added; he was still watching Frodo for any indication of what he might be thinking.
"As far as I can determine, Mr. Lowfoot did go home when he left the Hall," said Frodo.
"While Auntie was here all night," said Di.
Frodo was instantly alert, for this was not what he'd been told. "Was she? I understood that she went home as well, later that evening."
Alamaric glanced at his daughter as he admitted, "No, Althaea stayed so late that she was invited to spend the night at the Hall rather than make her way back to Low-wood alone at such an hour."
When she realized what she'd done, Diantha looked genuinely horrified at her slip. "Oh, I didn't mean to get Aunt Althaea into trouble!" she cried out. "Frodo, can't you forget I told you? No, I don't suppose you can. I hope it wasn't her!"
"You really must learn to watch your tongue, my dear child," Alamaric told her. Diantha was more receptive to this rebuke than the last, and looked properly ashamed of herself.
"It proves nothing," Frodo tried to reassure them both. "There are plenty of other people who could have done it. Anyone who lives in the Thain's Hall had the same opportunity that night before Brabantius fell ill. Why, even the two of you can go into and about the Hall as easily. Pippin tells me that this used to be part of the same house."
His friends stared at him, for this what not what they had planned; Merry and Pippin were to distract their host and his daughter with chatter and give Frodo a chance to excuse himself, leave the dining room, and go in search of a door into the Thain's Hall. Sam would go out after him, to keep watch while Frodo searched. They all thought such a door would be easy to find. If Alamaric and Diantha were accustomed to use it often in wet weather, then it wouldn't be bricked up nor filled in with dirt. The door might not even be locked. No one expected Frodo to make such a direct feint.
Alamaric paused for an instant in the middle of taking a sip from his glass, then met Frodo's eyes as he answered, "Yes, that's so. As a matter of fact, one of the old doors my grandfather put in is just down the hallway outside. When we've finished our meal, why don't I show you?"
After lunch, Alamaric led the party from the dining room, down the passageway just outside in the opposite direction from the front door. They went past a few other closed doors until they came to one at the very end.
Frodo tried to open this door. It was locked. "Do you keep the key, or do they?" he asked.
"They have a key too," said Alamaric. "We keep ours here." He opened the top drawer of a cabinet that sat along the corridor and took out a large iron key on a loop of string. He gave this to Frodo.
Frodo unlocked the door, opened it, and stepped through into the other half of the original tunnel to see where it emerged inside the Thain's Hall. There were more doors to small sitting rooms on the other side, including the room where he and Alamargo had gone to yesterday. The front hall was just a few yards beyond and he could hear the clinking of silverware and the voices of the Thain's family in their own dining room. The juncture to the corridor that led to the Thain's study was just a short walk further, and the tunnel to the kitchens, butler's pantry, and wine cellar were easily reached from there. He might run into a servant if he attempted to go down one of these tunnels now, but in the middle of the night, he could easily enter the Thain's Hall this way and go anywhere he liked without being seen.
His friends had also ventured through the open door to have a look around. Frodo turned to go back into Alamaric's home. "Thank you for showing me, sir," he said as he returned the key to its owner.
"I hope it's of help to your investigation," Alamaric replied. "I must say it's been a fascinating experience, watching you at your work." He seemed at ease, but Frodo saw that Diantha had gone pale and was staring at him with a sick and frightened look in her eyes.
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