The house where Mrs. Tiggle was working was on the far outskirts of Frogmorton, but on the Great East Road and not difficult to find. Rather than knock at the front door and trouble the cook's new employers with a call from two strangers, Frodo and Thimula went around to the kitchen. Mrs. Tiggle was most likely to be working there at this hour of the day.
Mrs. Tiggle had in fact just sent the luncheon joint and soup tureen into the dining-room before she answered the kitchen door. She knew Thimula well, and recognized Frodo as Hobbiton's famous detective and Lobelia's despised nephew even though she had never met him before. She seemed somewhat baffled by their unexpected visit, but welcomed them in.
"You come all this way from Hobbiton after Missus's goose?" she asked incredulously once Thimula had explained their errand. "Missus Lobelia give it me herself. `Twas the last day I was in her service--she said as she didn't have no more use for a cook, as she was too poorly to eat proper but could take in only tea and gruel and broths and such-like, as you could make for her, Miss. Beg pardon, Miss Thimula, but `tis what she said. She said as I'd been a good servant to her, and no hard feelings, and I might have that there goose as sat atop the cupboard as a gift to remember her by. She said as you might come after it one day, Miss, but there's no cause to bring `tectives into it." She cast an uneasy glance in Frodo's direction.
"I'm not here to accuse you of theft," Frodo assured her. "Miss Bracegirdle doesn't wish the goose returned--" Thimula shook her head vigorously in agreement. "If Aunt Lobelia gave it to you, then it is yours to keep. We only wish to see it." He looked around the kitchen, but there was no goose-shaped pottery in sight. "Where is it, please?"
"Well, I don't keep it out here, Mr. Baggins," the cook answered reluctantly. "The girl here as washes up is always a-dropping and breaking the dishes and I wouldn't let her get her hands near sommat breakable o' mine. It's in my room, if you only want to see it..."
Still reluctant, wishing to be helpful but not entirely convinced that they weren't after Lobelia's last gift to her, Mrs. Tiggle showed her guests into a bedroom beyond the pantry. There, sitting on a low chest of drawers, was the goose they'd come so far to find.
Thimula's aesthetic judgment was impeccable; Frodo thought it was the ugliest piece of crockery he'd ever seen. It was nearly life-size and its general shape was copied from nature, but it had been painted in shades of green and orange distinctly unnatural for any living goose. There was also a fierce look in the beady black eyes that made it look as if it were eager to deliver a nasty bite. Only someone like Lobelia could cherish such an object.
There was a small metal plate embedded in the goose's breast and at its center, a tiny keyhole. Frodo took the little tin key from his waistcoat pocket. "May I open it?"
"Open it?" Mrs. Tiggle repeated. "Yes, o' course, Mr. Baggins. So you've got the key? I never knew what became of it."
Frodo tried the key in the lock; it fit and turned easily. Taking the goose by the neck, he lifted the top half off. The bottom half was an oval-shaped bowl, with nothing inside.
"Oh," said Thimula in disappointment. "I was certain the will would be there."
Frodo had felt certain too. Could Lobelia have been playing a deliberate, posthumous trick on him? It wouldn't surprise him if she had gone to such lengths, even on her deathbed, but why would she play such a cruel trick on Thimula as well? Or had she? Perhaps-?
He turned the upper half of the goose, still in his hand, upside down. Lobelia's last trick was revealed: a piece of paper, rolled into a tube, had been stuck up inside the hollow neck. He pulled it out and handed the goose to an amazed Thimula so he could unfurl the paper roll.
Frodo read the first paragraph of the short and simple will:
"In the absence of nearer relations since the death of my only
beloved son, I leave all my property and possessions to Thimula
Bracegirdle, with the following exceptions."
Below was a list of a few items, pieces of jewelry and household furnishings that Lobelia had wished to give to various friends and relatives; Thimula would have to sort these out and see they were sent to the right people. Lobelia had signed her will in a crabbed hand, and beneath her signature were the signatures of seven witnesses, all Bracegirdles of Hardbottle, in red ink. At the bottom of the paper, in fresher and darker black ink, obviously written later, was another message in Lobelia's handwriting. This late addition was unwitnessed, and would have been of doubtful legality even if it weren't spurious for other reasons:
"Frodo Baggins (Lobelia had written)-
"If you can find this, with or without Thimula's assistance,
you may be a better detective than I've credited you to be.
You may make a suitable husband for a deserving girl. It is
my last wish that the rupture in the Baggins family caused
by Bilbo Baggins be closed at last, and I therefore add this
note that of all my rightful property, I leave Bag End to you,
provided you take Thimula as your wife."
As Frodo's eyes went over these words, he began to smile. "I never will understand Aunt Lobelia!"
"Why?" asked Thimula. "What does it say?"
"You're going to be very wealthy," he told her as he handed her the will to see for herself. "She's left you nearly everything she owned. She's left me Bag End, under the condition that I marry you.
Thimula stared at him, as if she thought he was making a joke. As she read the last lines Lobelia had written, her cheeks turned pink. "Auntie must've been desperate to see me married," she said after a moment. "She decided in the end that you weren't so horrible after all. I wonder if that was why she set up this 'wild goose chase' for us--to try and bring us together?"
"I can think of no other reason for it that makes sense," Frodo answered, and regarded her uncertainly. Even if Lobelia had had any rightful claim to Bag End and he might lose his home, he had no intention of marrying to keep it. But how did Thimula feel about Lobelia's matchmaking attempt? She wasn't cherishing any hopes, was she? He'd begun to be fond of Thimula, and didn't want to hurt her feelings. Mrs. Tiggle, who'd been watching them with curiosity since Frodo had opened the goose, now wore a delighted expression, as if she were expecting to witness a proposal.
To his relief, Thimula laughed. "You needn't fear, Frodo. You can keep your home with the Gamgees. If I'm going to buy a husband with my inheritance, it'll be someone else. It's out of Auntie's hands."
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