When they returned to the Thain's Hall, Frodo sent Sam to the kitchens to see if Mrs. Scrubbs was up, and to wake her if she wasn't, to ask her a few specific questions. After Sam had gone on this errand, Frodo peeked in at the parlor to discover that most of the ladies were still there, discussing Vidalia's wedding plans. Mrs. Goodwood, however, had left her knitting, Persifilla had left the room, and Lady Iris was no longer seated with her son.
Sam returned after a few minutes and repeated what little he'd gotten from the cook in answer to his questions. "Is that good enough?" he asked Frodo.
"It isn't," said Frodo, "but I'm afraid it will have to do."
"D'you want me to come with you, when you go talk to her? She might be a danger."
"No, Sam. Thank you. She can't harm me." Frodo left his friend outside the parlor and went up the tunnel where the family bed-chambers were, until he reached the door of Lady Iris's boudoir. He tapped on the door, and when the lady asked who it was, identified himself and asked to come in.
Lady Iris was seated on her bower-like sofa amid a profusion of flowers. "What can I do for you, Mr. Baggins?" she asked. "I must say, I'm surprised you and your friends have stayed on so late in the day, now that this horrible business is over with. It's nearly noon, and you've a such long journey ahead of you. You'll be leaving us soon?" She sounded politely curious, but Frodo thought he detected an eagerness for him to be gone underlying the question.
"Yes, my lady." Frodo took a seat in the chair opposite the sofa. "Before we go, I must talk with Thain Brabantius about this case one last time, and I need to decide what to tell him. I was hoping you might help me. You asked me to consult you, remember?"
"Of course," said Lady Iris. "But I don't see what needs to be decided. It was his butler who tried to poison him. Poor, dear Brabantius knows that. What more is there to say?"
"It wasn't the butler, my lady," said Frodo. "Oh, it's true that Tulipant played an unwitting part in the poisoning, and when he realized it, it tormented him until he was forced to do what he did, but he wasn't the poisoner. That was someone else. A woman. Tulipant spoke of her before he died."
"Did he?" the lady sat forward and looked extremely interested. "Who did he name?"
"He didn't speak her name, unfortunately," Frodo answered, "but he said enough for me to understand who the lady must be--for it was a lady. Tulipant said, 'I gave it her. She cosseted to me.'"
Lady Iris said nothing. Frodo went on:
"I think what happened was that this lady cajoled Tulipant into letting her borrow the wine-cellar key, then went into the cellar and tampered with the Thain's special wine. I don't know how long ago this occurred. It may have been weeks, even months before the poisoned wine came to the Thain's study. According to Tulipant, Brabantius was accustomed to drink a glass or two of his wine every evening, and might finish a bottle in about a week. It would only be a matter of time before the poisoned bottle was opened--if only one bottle was poisoned. Tulipant was quite overwhelmed by the lady's charms, I imagine, and didn't even think about why she wanted the key until I arrived and the Thain told him that the wine had been poisoned."
Lady Iris smiled and sat back against the plush pillows behind her. "You have a wonderful imagination, Mr. Baggins!" she said. "All that, from just a few words. Tulipant might've meant anybody, any woman. Why must it be a lady? Couldn't it be a servant--one of the maids, or perhaps our cook?"
"If it had been a maidservant, my lady, would Tulipant have given her the key so readily? And why wouldn't he speak up about it when I began to ask questions? Why struggle with his conscience for days and drink the rest of the poisoned wine himself rather than tell me or the Thain what he'd done? He had a reason for his silence. I feel sure it was the Thain he was desperate to keep the truth from at all costs. He knew how it would break the Thain's heart... and he was in the end loyal to his Thain. It was someone Thain Brabantius cared very much for, you see. I don't believe it can have been one of the Tooks. Not because they're above such things, but because they're all awful snobs, as you well know. They would consider 'cosseting' to a mere servant to be a degradation. Even if they could bring themselves to play up to a servant, Tulipant wouldn't hand over his keys to the Thain's daughters-in-law, Mrs. Goodwood, or Persifilla. I'd be surprised if Persifilla even knows where the kitchens are! He might feel enough loyalty to Althaea as his master's daughter to lie for her, but I can't imagine Althaea Lowfoot 'cosseting' to her father's butler even to commit murder. She seems to be the sort of lady who would rather drink poison herself. No. The lady I'm thinking of wouldn't possess that sort of snobbery. She wasn't born to it the way the Took ladies were.
"It's funny you should bring up your cook, my lady. It wasn't Tulipant's last words alone that helped me see the truth. The other thing, which eliminated the Took ladies from consideration altogether, was the behavior of Mrs. Scrubbs after Tulipant drank the poisoned wine. He left a note, did you know? It's gone now, most likely destroyed in the kitchen fire. The pantry-boy Jeddy says it lay on Tulipant's bed when he first found him, but it wasn't there when I arrived shortly after Jeddy and Mrs. Scrubbs. He says that she took it up the moment she saw it, and I've no reason to think he's lying. If Jeddy himself had taken it, he wouldn't have mentioned it to me at all."
"Does she admit to this?" Lady Iris asked.
"No, she denies that there was any note. She claims she never saw it, and says that she can't even read."
"She can't," said the lady. "Not more than a few simple words."
"If you say so," answered Frodo, "but I think that even if she didn't know what Tulipant had written, she must surely have guessed that it was some sort of confession. Something that she couldn't allow anyone else to see. She also sent Jeddy away to his home for a few days, so that he couldn't tell me about the note, nor the words he'd heard Tulipant cry out before he died."
"Then you are suggesting that Mrs. Scrubbs poisoned my husband?" Lady Iris asked, with a little laugh. "But that is ridiculous."
"She might be the poisoner," said Frodo. "I suspect very much that she was the one who brewed the poison, and I shudder to think that she was the one who nursed Tulipant so carefully through his last night. He might've died anyway, after drinking so much of that wine, but I will always wonder if she didn't ensure that he never had a chance to revive and speak. She may even have gone into the wine cellar. But whatever she did, it wasn't for selfish reasons. There was someone else in this. You see, there's no reason why Tulipant would keep silent if she had been the woman who borrowed his key. And there is only one person Mrs. Scrubbs is so devoted to that she would go to such lengths to aid and protect, even if it meant being suspected herself. She might even confess to protect that person."
The lady's amused little smile had grown frozen. Her rosy face had turned very pale and her beautiful eyes, fixed on Frodo, had taken on a icy glint. Her voice, when she next spoke, was also icy. "Why, Mr. Baggins do you think this lady would do such a thing?"
"I think she did it because she wanted to marry again," answered Frodo, steadily meeting that frozen gaze. "I think she's been in love with someone else, a gentleman with no money, for some time, perhaps even while her first husband was still alive. He says that she's doesn't care for him, but I don't think she's as indifferent as he's tried to make me believe. Perhaps he's even told the truth that there's never been anything between them except a few kisses. I can't really say. After her first husband's death, she found that she couldn't afford to marry this impoverished gentleman, being a poor widow herself. Instead, she put herself in the way of a wealthy and elderly hobbit who has always admired her, and when the opportunity presented itself, she married him and looked forward to being a widow again soon. When her second husband dies, it means she can marry her lover without worrying about his lack of fortune. All she had to do was bide her time for a few months, or even a few years. But she wasn't as patient as her lover. When her aged husband lived on and showed no sign of ill health, she began to grow weary of the marriage and decided to help the inevitable along to its end. It was all very cleverly done. If Brabantius hadn't grown suspicious and fed some of his wine to a dog, he might have succumbed by now to his 'illness' and nobody would think to question it, no matter how much they disliked his widow."
Lady Iris could no longer pretend to misunderstand him; the accusation was too clear. "You've no proof of this, Mr. Baggins," she said. "It's guesses, nothing more. You can't even prove that poor Tulipant said a word before he died. He's gone and can't tell anyone why he did what he did. As you say, there's no note to be found--if he ever left one. Mrs. Scrubbs will deny there was. You only have the word of a silly little boy to contradict her. A boy who's so caught up in the excitement of having detectives in the house that he'll say whatever will impress you. Who's to say it isn't all ugly, horrible lies? They hate me so much in this house that they'll say anything against me."
"I can't prove what I've said to you is true," Frodo admitted, "but I must tell Thain Brabantius what I know and what I've deduced."
"He won't believe you."
"Perhaps not, but if what I suspect is true, then I can't stand by and let you try it again. That's why I came to you first, so you would know what I intend to tell your husband. If you think you've gotten away with it this once, I'm afraid you'll be bold enough for another attempt. The next time, you might succeed." Frodo rose from his seat. "Brabantius mightn't take my word, but I might at least convince him to make a few changes in his will, to safeguard himself."
As he turned toward the door, he heard a hissing intake of breath behind him. Lady Iris was still glaring at him; for a moment, he thought she might leap up and come at him with her fingernails, but she sat where she was. She was angry and frightened, but Frodo wondered if he'd done enough to push her.
"One last question," he said before he went out. "How did your first husband die, my lady? Would it be worth my while to go to the north and find out?"
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!
