A few days later, while the two hobbits were at second breakfast, there was a knock at the front door.
Frodo looked up from his half-finished plate of bacon and eggs. "Surely it couldn't be Merry and Pippin? I wasn't expecting them 'til this afternoon."
"It'd be just like them to come early," Sam answered as he got up from the kitchen table.
But when he answered the door, he found, not Merry and Pippin, but one of the local sherriffs, Robin Smallburrows, waiting outside. Robin was holding his feathered cap--the badge of his office--in his hands and twisting it nervously, but he looked relieved when he saw Sam, for the two had been friends from childhood.
"G'morning, Sam. I'd like to speak to Mr. Frodo, please, if you don't mind."
As long as Frodo was ill, Sam did mind his being bothered without good reason. "What's this about, Robin?" he asked.
"It's his cousin, Mr. Lotho Sackville-Baggins. He's gone missing."
"Missing?" said Sam, and from immediately behind him came an echo: "Lotho's missing?" He turned to find that Frodo had come to the doorway between the sitting room and front hall.
"That's right, Mr. Baggins," Robin answered. "It seems he went out of Hobbiton this Trewsday past, and no one's seen 'm since." He looked up and down Frodo, who was still in his nightshirt and dressing-gown, and added apologetically, "I didn't wish to disturb you. I know you've been poorly, and wouldn't've come if it wasn't important-"
"It's quite all right, Sherriff," Frodo assured him. "Please, come in." He gestured for Sam to admit Robin to the house, then turned and went into the sitting room. "How can I help you?" he asked as he took a chair; he would have invited Robin to have a seat as well, but knew that the sherriff would think it an impertinence to sit down with a gentlehobbit while performing his official duties.
"We're talking to everyone who'd seen Mr. Lotho just before he went off," Robin explained, continuing to twist his cap in his hands as he spoke. "Now, he came here visiting that day, didn't he, Mr. Baggins?"
"Yes, that's right."
"And he didn't say where he might be off to afterwards?"
"No, I'm afraid not. We didn't part on friendly terms."
Robin nodded, and looked even more nervous. "You had a quarrel."
Sam bristled, but Frodo answered calmly, "Yes, there was a quarrel--over this house, as a matter of fact. It's no secret that the Sackville-Bagginses have coveted Bag End since Uncle Bilbo's day. While I was away last year, Lotho and his mother thought that the house would be theirs at last, but since I've come home, they've been disappointed again. They still have some idea that they've been cheated out of property that's rightfully mine."
"Is that what Mr. Lotho came to talk to you about?" asked Robin.
"He came to make an offer to buy Bag End. I told him I didn't care to sell it, and he refused to accept my answer."
"Now who told you about that quarrel, Robin?" Sam demanded.
Robin was acutely embarrassed; his ears were bright pink and his cap had been crushed. "It was Mrs. Sackville-Baggins," he admitted.
"Aunt Lobelia!" Frodo cried. To Sam, he added, "I'm not in the least surprised," then turned back to Robin to ask, "What did she tell you?"
"I'm very sorry to repeat it to you, Mr. Baggins," Robin answered reluctantly, "but when we asked Mrs. Lobelia if she had any idea of her son's whereabouts, she said that if anything'd happened to him, we should look to you."
Sam let out a yelp of disgust.
Frodo was likewise sickened by this slander against him, but he was determined not to take his anger out on the hapless sherriff. "I give you my word I had nothing to do with Lotho's disappearance," he told Robin. "There were some harsh words spoken between us, but we didn't come to blows. Lotho was angry when he departed, but unharmed. I have not seen him since. Sam will confirm what I say."
"It's just as Mr. Frodo says," Sam affirmed, although all three were well aware that he would swear to whatever Frodo wanted him to, whether it was true or not.
Robin nodded solemnly. "I'll take you at your word. I hope we won't have to bother you again, Mr. Baggins."
Sam saw Robin to the door, but he was scowling when he returned. "The nerve of it! Mrs. Lobelia practically saying you'd made away with Mr. Lotho! And that Cock-Robin Sherriff Smallburrows coming here to question you-"
"Don't hold it against him, Sam," said Frodo. "Once he heard that I'd quarreled with Lotho, he had to ask me about it. You can't fault him for doing his duty."
"No..." Sam relented grudgingly. "But what about Mrs. Lobelia? She means trouble for you, Frodo."
"I know she does--she always has--but I have no idea where her son's run off to or what's happened to him. I'm not worried about whatever she has to say."
But it was obviously on his mind, for Frodo continued to brood as he returned to the kitchen to finish his breakfast. He remained quiet and thoughtful for the rest of the day, until Merry and Pippin arrived in time for dinner.
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