Frodo was at first doubtful of Florisel's claim that no one could have gotten into the Thain's study--he'd learned to regard Florisel as one of those charming hobbits who were not very exacting with the truth--and the others would back him to save themselves. But when he left the parlor and went to see the Thain, who was sitting in his study with Isigo, Brabantius confirmed that it was true.
"There is no other key?" Frodo asked after Isigo had been dismissed to go and hear the full story from the others in the parlor.
"No, I have it here." Brabantius took a bundle of keys from his waistcoat pocket and showed it to Frodo. "I didn't normally lock the door before this trouble began, but it is my custom to do so when the rents have come in and are being sorted out, before they go into the strongbox. It wasn't that I mistrusted my servants or family, but I always thought it best to keep temptation out of their way."
"Is there any other way into this room?"
"Only that window." The Thain pointed to it.
Frodo pulled aside the curtains to reveal a small, round window that was latched on the inside. They were far underground, and the window opened onto a narrow tunnel that slanted sharply upwards to provide light and air to the room, but no view. "And you never left Florisel here alone while he was working with you on your accounts?"
"No. I had no reason to leave him."
"He was here when Tulipant brought the decanter in?"
"Yes, Tulipant brought in the tray in shortly before dinner and put it down over there-" Brabantius indicated the little table near his favorite chair before the fire, "just as he always did of an evening. Florisel and I were at the desk and neither of us went near it--Florisel didn't, nor did I until after he and Althaea had come and gone."
"Was Florisel here when you spoke with your daughter?"
"He was just leaving. Sensitive lad, he saw right away that Althaea desired a private interview with me and took himself off. I went to my chair and took up the decanter while I was speaking with Althaea, but didn't drink until after she'd gone."
It seemed impossible that either could have touched the wine while the Thain was there to see. The next question was more awkward, and Frodo struggled to pose it delicately. "Is it possible that- ah-someone could've taken your key from you--while you were asleep, for example?"
"No, not during those days when there is so much rent money about. I wear the key to my strongbox on a string around my neck, and when I lock my study door, the key to the study joins it. I also lock the bedchamber door. None dare disturb me."
"Not even her ladyship?" Frodo asked.
Thain Brabantius looked amused. "Not even her ladyship. She does not share my chamber."
Frodo didn't dare to venture furthe
"The key hung about my neck all the time I was ill," Brabantius continued. "As far as I know, no one touched it, for the study was just as I'd left it, if a bit more dusty, when I was well enough to be up and about again. I recall that my son Alhasrus asked for it once and offered to go over unfinished business while I was recovering, but I wouldn't give it him."
All his previous theories must be cast aside. If what the Thain said was true, and no one could have entered the study during the crucial time when the decanter had sat there on its tray, then the wine must have been poisoned before Tulipant had brought it in.
Frodo next sought out Tulipant in his butler's pantry to ask, "Could someone have poisoned the Thain's wine while it was here in this room?"
"No, Mr. Baggins," the butler replied. "Not that wine. From the moment I pulled the cork from the bottle, 'til I set it down on the table in his Thainship's study, it was never out of my sight. Nobody else had a chance to touch it."
Even as he spoke these last words, Tulipant's expression changed; his round, ruddy face grew pale and his eyes went wide. Was it because he realized that if no one else could have tampered with the wine, as he had just claimed, then he was the only one who could?
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