After Frodo had gone, Sam went down the hill to the Thain's garden. Isigo returned to Merry and Pippin.
"It must be wonderful working with Mr. Baggins," he said after he had settled down comfortably on the grass beside the pair and Pippin had offered him some pipeweed. "I'll wager you could tell some remarkable stories about the mysteries you've investigated."
"Oh, we can tell you plenty of stories," Pippin answered, grinning.
"But you've never had one like this, have you? A murder, only the victim isn't dead. That's lucky for Father Brabantius, and for Mr. Baggins too, but perhaps not for the rest of us. Did you see the family at dinner last night? Nobody daring to eat, and everyone glancing at everybody else out of the corners of their eyes. We're all wondering who could do such a thing. Mama says it must be a mistake, or some sort of accident. She won't believe it. What does Mr. Baggins think?" he asked them. "Has he turned up anything?"
"There isn't much to tell yet. We've only just started to look about," Merry answered. "Frodo never likes to tell us what he's thinking, until he's sure."
Pippin laughed. "Sometimes, we haven't the least idea what's on his mind. He'll say the oddest things, and you can't understand a word of it until he explains. Then it all makes sense."
"Besides," added Merry, "it's really best not to say too much to the people involved, before we know who to suspect."
The young hobbit sat up, eyes wide. "I say, I'm not suspected, am I? Surely Mr. Baggins doesn't think so. There's no reason why I'd want to poison Father Brabantius. I like him too much. He's always been thoroughly decent to me, even when I was a little lad, long before he married Mama."
"Is he leaving you any money?" Pippin asked bluntly.
Isigo was taken aback by the question, but he answered, "A little bit, I suppose. Not as much as his grandchildren will get when he passes on, but why shouldn't he want to provide something for me if he likes? I'm in no hurry to have it, if it means he has to go. As far as I'm concerned, Father Brabantius can live to be a hundred and seventy."
"Then you don't have a thing to worry about," Merry assured him.
While they were talking, Diantha Took and a hobbit gentleman who must be her father had come out of the smial next door to sit in the garden adjacent to the Thain's. When she saw them, Di waved and beckoned eagerly.
"Let's go down," said Isigo. "Di's been panting to hear what's up since Father Brabantius wrote to Mr. Baggins. Uncle Alamaric's just as curious, although he won't admit it. He doesn't dare to look nosy--he'll leave that up to his daughter." As the trio rose and went down the hill, the young hobbit added, "Will you tell them anything, I wonder?"
At the bottom of the hill, they went through a side-gate in the hedge that separated the Hall garden from the smaller garden of its neighbor. Isigo introduced his companions to Alamaric as "friends of the detective the Thain's sent for."
"I'm looking forward to meeting your famous friend," said Alamaric pleasantly after he had shook Pippin's and Merry's hands in turn. "Is that Mr. Baggins there?" He nodded to indicate Sam, who had climbed over the low decorative fence around the laburnum trees to examine the ground beneath them.
"No, Poppa," Di chided affectionately and wound her arms around her father's shoulders from behind his chair. "That's Mr. Baggins's other friend, Chief Shirriff Gamgee. We were introduced yesterday. Frodo Baggins is thin and pale, with big eyes and dark hair. You'd never guess he was a detective to look at him, but he's awfully clever."
"A shirriff..." Alamaric mused and continued to regard Sam. "Are all of you here to aid Mr. Baggins?"
"Yes, sir," answered Merry. "We always do, whenever we can."
"Well, I hope you can get to the bottom of this business, whatever it is. Of course, I've no idea what the problem is--Uncle Brabantius has kept so much to himself lately--but I can guess it's to do with his recent remarriage," Alamaric said and examined his pipe with studied disinterest, as if he weren't probing for information. "I beg your pardon, Isigo-lad. You know how fond I am of your dear mother, but anyone can see that the Thain's household has been in a topsy-turvy state since she married him. Mind, I don't blame her, nor him, for that matter."
"No, but you're quite right," Isigo agreed. "There's been one quarrel after another since Mother and I came to stay. But it doesn't have to do with us-"
"What then?" Di exploded impatiently. "What's put Granduncle into such a frightful tizzy? He wouldn't tell me either, and I was the one who said he should send for Frodo in the first place! Did he tell Frodo what this is all about? Do you lads know?" She looked eagerly from Pippin to Merry. "What does he want him to do?"
"It has to do with the Thain's recent illness," Merry spoke with caution, uncertain how much Frodo would want them to reveal, when Pippin blurted out:
"He says he's been poisoned."
"Poisoned!" squeaked Diantha. "How?"
"In his special wine," said Isigo. "At least, that's what Father Brabantius told us over dinner last night. Mr. Baggins has been peeking into the wine cellars and asking all kinds of questions about when was the last time anybody else had a sip of it."
"We each had a glass or two of it at Alhasrus's birthday, even the children." Alamaric took his daughter's hand. "Is that what your friend the shirriff is doing?" he asked. "Looking for poison?"
Merry nodded. "Sam says laburnum's the most likely thing."
The elder hobbit looked grim. "It's a horrible business, if it's true."
"Are there other laburnum trees nearby, Mr. Took?" Merry asked, thinking that Sam might want to have a look at those too.
"Goodness! There are trees just like that all up and down the Cleeve!" exclaimed Diantha.
"There's a laburnum grove near our old cottage," offered Isigo. "I can show you, if you'd like to see it."
Pippin accepted this invitation, and Di went with them. Merry stayed behind with Alamaric. As much as he would have liked to accompany the other young hobbits, he had noticed that Alamaric seemed familiar with Lady Iris--and, unlike the Thain's nearer relations, he seemed to like her. He would be able to answer questions about the lady, and Merry was certain that Frodo would want him to learn as much as he could.
But they did not discuss Iris immediately. "I've heard tales of what a wild lad your friend Peregrin Took is," Alamaric said after the trio of young hobbits had exited the garden. "Diamanta despairs of him, but now I've met him for myself, I must say he seems like a pleasant lad--high-spirited, as Tooks occasionally are." He smiled. "You have something of the Tookish look about you yourself, Master Brandybuck."
"I'm half a Took," Merry answered. "My mother, Lady Esmeralda, is Diamanta's and Pippin's father's youngest sister. We're first cousins."
Alamaric, who shared the common hobbit fondness for genealogy, was pleased to learn this. "Then you and I are distant kinsmen," he responded. "I thought we might be. 'Pippin,' you call him? That's what Di calls him too. My daughter talks about him almost as much as she does about Mr. Baggins. They made quite an impression on her. Of course, a spirited boy like that is completely unsuitable for my little niece Diamond, but perhaps..." He turned to watch the three young hobbits disappearing down the lane.
With a jolt, Merry understood that Alamaric was hopeful of a match between his daughter and Pippin. He ruffled briefly, jealously, but bit back a discouraging retort. After all, Alamaric could have no idea what he and Pippin were to each other. "I doubt there are many girls who could put up with Pip," he said more tactfully. Unfortunately, this Di looked to be just the sort who would. Rather than continue this distasteful topic of conversation, he asked Alamaric, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, sir, on Frodo's behalf?"
"For this investigation? No, I don't mind," Alamaric answered. "But there's isn't much I can tell you. I never heard a word about poison before this morning, and couldn't begin to guess who's been putting it into Uncle Brabantius's wine."
"It isn't that. It's Lady Iris I'm curious about, and I know Frodo is too. Can you tell me something about her? Why does everybody in the Thain's family hate her so?"
"They think she's a climber," Alamaric responded promptly.
"Don't you?"
The older hobbit shook his head. "No more than any other woman of no particular family and no money who receives a proposal of marriage from the most wealthy and prominent gentleman in this part of the Shire. It'd be a hard offer to turn down even if she wasn't in the least greedy or scheming. That's just what my cousins and their wives say she is. They can't forgive her for marrying their father, but I can understand it. I say why shouldn't the old fellow marry again, if he's of a mind to? His children resent it, but their own mother's been dead these twenty years. I've no wish to insult her memory--Aunt Salvia was a wonderful Lady, sweet and generous, but since I've lost my own wife, I know how lonely it can be to live without the companionship of a woman. Iris is pretty and attentive, and no doubt makes Uncle Brabantius feel young again himself."
"Have you known her long?" asked Merry.
"For years. I knew her first husband, you see. Rosaldo Pumble was a friend of mine. A sort of cousin-by-marriage to the Tooks. We North-Tooks and the Pumbles have intermarried for generations, and we consider them kin even when there's no blood connection. Rosaldo worked as a land-agent for the Thain's farms in the northernmost end of the Cleeve. I can't tell you about Iris's family, but she was most likely the daughter of one of the farm-folk there. I first met her just after she and Rosaldo had wed--she was a remarkably lovely girl in those days. It'd take your breath away to see her. Uncle Brabantius would often ride up that way on land-business when he was younger and more fit. I went with him once in awhile, or I'd go in his place. Uncle Brabantius must have seen Iris many times while she was married to Rosaldo, but I never guessed he had special feelings for her.
"Then after Rosaldo fell ill and died suddenly, Iris wrote to Uncle Brabantius, asking for his help. It seems that she and her boy Isigo weren't left very well off. Uncle Brabantius invited them to come and live here--not at the Thain's Hall, but in a little cottage not far away."
"The one they're going to look at?" asked Merry, and waved a hand in the direction of the lane Pippin, Di, and Isigo had gone down.
"The very one. It isn't a far walk, even for a hobbit of his age. Uncle Brabantius would call upon Iris two and three times a week, and one day he returned from a visit and announced that he had asked her to be his wife!"
"The family was shocked?"
"Well, we were all very much surprised." Alamaric gave Merry another curious look. "Does this have anything to do with Uncle Brabantius's-ah- trouble? Isigo said it wasn't why you and Mr. Baggins had come here, but..."
Merry could only answer honestly, "I don't know. I'm only trying to find out whatever I can information your family."
"If that's so," said Alamaric, "then I can be of help."
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