Frodo followed Mrs. Scrubbs--or to be more precise, the sound of her heavier footsteps in the wake of the Jeddy's lighter tread down the unfamiliar tunnels that led to the servants' quarters. Under normal circumstances, he could easily have caught up with an elderly and ponderous woman, but Mrs. Scrubbs knew exactly where she was going and he did not; the tunnel branched and more than once, Frodo took the wrong turning before he located Tulipant's room.
Tulipant lay on the bed fully clothed, but his neck-cloth had been loosened and the brass buttons on his waistcoat were undone. His eyes were shut, lids fluttering, and he breathed in deep gasps. Mrs. Scrubbs had knelt at the butler's bedside and was patting his face, calling his name, and making an effort to revive him with a cup of water from the washstand pitcher. Jeddy stood nearby with the pitcher at hand and his eyes wide with alarm.
"Is there anything I can do?" Frodo asked from the doorway. He felt that he ought to do something.
"No, lad," Mrs Scrubbs answered without looking up at him. "If he's taken sommat that's done him ill, there's naught for it but to try and bring it back up. Here, Jeddy-lad. Fetch some hot water from the kettle on the stove, and that jar o' ground mustard that's on the spices shelf. If you can't find it, ask one o' the girls to get it. Mind you bring it back quick as you can. And you might tell the girls I won't be there to finish the dinner, as I'll be here with Mr. Tulipant awhile. They'll have to manage themselves. It's a matter of getting the chickens off the spit and the rolls out o' the oven afore they burn. Go now!"
The boy nodded and handed the pitcher to Frodo as he slipped past him and went out the door.
Mrs. Scrubbs now twisted around to look up at Frodo. "You can be off too, Mr. Baggins," she told him. "There's naught you can do for poor Mr. Tulipant. I'll see to 'm. But you might go and tell her ladyship and the rest o' them what's happened, and how the dinner might be a bit late."
When Frodo brought the news to the Tooks, and Lady Iris heard that Mrs. Scrubbs was nursing Tulipant, she rushed to the servants' quarters to see what she could do to help. She returned shortly and announced, "There's little to be done. He has passed into a state of sleep near death, and will awaken, or not."
"Just like Father?" asked Alhasrus.
"Yes, just like my poor husband."
"I believe he drank the rest of the poisoned wine deliberately," Frodo told them. "The decanter was empty."
"It was still half-full when I sent it away," observed Brabantius. "That must surely be enough to kill even the heartiest hobbit." He then said what the others were all thinking. "So it was my butler all along. And you'd no idea, Mr. Baggins?"
"No, sir," Frodo admitted. "Not until I learned it was impossible for anyone to have entered your study and tampered with the wine there. Unless someone had taken his key to the wine cellar, no one else but Tulipant could've touched the wine before it came to you. I was just going to question him about it-"
"And he decided to take this way out, rather than confess?" asked Aspid.
"It appears so," said Frodo.
Persifilla shuddered. "How horrible!"
"It seems an unnecessarily extreme reaction," said Ulfidius, "but perhaps he felt it was the only way once he'd been found out."
"It's a shame." Brabantius sounded sincerely sad. "I trusted him more than anyone, and I hate to learn how my trust has been misplaced."
"So that's the end of it!" said Florisel. "I'm sorry about your butler, Brabantius, but I must say I'm glad it's turned out not to be someone- well- closer to you. Only think how awkward a situation that would be!"
The maids brought the soup with apologies for the meager dinner, and brought fresh news of Tulipant's state with every platter they cleared, but the Tooks didn't mind. Most of the party were too excited, and pleased, by this turn of events to demand the usual three courses and dessert. Frodo ate little himself, and did not join the others in the parlor after the meal was ended. Instead, he turned and headed for the tunnel that lead to his bedroom.
He was outside the door to his room when he heard Merry call out behind him, "Frodo?"
"I saw how upset you were, Frodo," Merry said as he caught up with his cousin and placed a hand on Frodo's arm. "It hasn't turned out as you were expecting, has it?"
"No," said Frodo. "There were so many other people who seemed more likely than the Thain's butler. I was sure it must be one of them. And now poor Tulipant..."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Merry tugged Frodo gently in the direction of his own room, just down the hall. Frodo realized that, yes, he would welcome talking with someone about this.
They went into Merry's room. "You'd guessed it must be Tulipant when you came away from the pantry to gather us up and talk it over, didn't you?" Merry asked once he and Frodo had sat down in the window-seat.
Frodo nodded. "Just as I said: unless someone had taken his key, it couldn't be anyone else."
"So we went over who could've taken the key, before you went to talk to Tulipant. That's what I don't understand, Frodo. Why didn't you question him right away? You had him there. He'd all but admitted to it. He couldn't help but confess if you'd pressed him."
"I wanted to think things over before I went on..." Frodo sighed. "No. That's what I said to myself at the time, but the truth is that I didn't want to push him harder right then. I didn't want to believe that a faithful servant had poisoned his master. I still don't like to think it's so, even though I have little other choice now. I'd hoped that if I discussed it with all of you, we could find another answer. If he dies, Merry, it will be my fault."
"No!" Merry put an arm around him.
"It is! You're right--I should've stayed and made him tell the truth. He wouldn't have had the chance to do this." Frodo leaned on his friend. "There was no reason for it, Merry. He wouldn't have been hung for his crime. It wasn't murder. Dismissed from the Thain's service, certainly. Expelled from the Long Cleeve or punished in some other way. But nothing so bad as what he's brought upon himself."
"Maybe he thought it was a fitting punishment for betraying his Thain," Merry suggested.
"If he truly felt that way about it, then he never would've dared to do it in the first place." Frodo lifted his head from Merry's shoulders to look into his face. "It all fits together, Merry. It makes sense as an answer to the question of who poisoned the Thain, but it isn't right. We haven't got the whole truth yet."
"We might never, Frodo."
"If Tulipant never awakes," Frodo agreed, and returned to the comfort of his cousin's arms. He rested his brow on Merry's shoulder and the two sat holding each other, rocking slightly, until they heard Sam's voice from the corridor outside, calling Frodo's name.
"Here, Sam!" Frodo called out in reply. He drew away from Merry's arms, but not before Sam came to the door of Merry's room. Sam's eyes widened at finding the two of them together.
"What's gone on between you?" Sam demanded as he and Frodo walked the short distance from Merry's bedroom door to Frodo's. "I came after you because I was worried, and I find you all cuddled up with him."
"It's nothing, Sam. We were talking, that's all," Frodo answered.
"About what?" Sam asked suspiciously.
"About Tulipant. The end of this awful case, if it is the end, and how I brought it about."
"And you'll talk to Merry of such things, but not me?"
"He was there to listen. I'd wanted to be by myself for awhile, but then Merry came and I found I needed to talk to someone."
"I promised I'd listen to whatever you wanted to say," countered Sam. "You made me promise, remember?"
"I remember. You also promised you'd stop being so jealous whenever I was with Merry." At his door, Frodo whirled to face Sam. "Sam, I don't want to quarrel about this now. It isn't the proper time. There is nothing between me and Merry. You will simply have to believe that, or don't, and leave me alone!"
He shut the door on Sam, sat down on his bed, and began to weep.
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