When Sam returned to Bag End, Frodo was reclined on the settee before the parlor fire, just as he'd been when they'd left him, with a blanket tucked over his knees and a book open in his lap. He looked up and smiled as Sam came into the room. "I didn't expect you back for at least another hour. Where are Merry and Pippin?"
"Oh, they're still at the pub. But I wanted to come home." Sam had in fact walked very quickly and was breathing a little hard. "I was worried about you, left here alone." And, sitting down at Frodo's feet, he leaned in to kiss him. "I missed you."
Frodo set his book down and, as Sam moved closer, reached up to wrap both arms around his neck. "I missed you too." When Sam kissed him again, more insistently this time, and reached up beneath the blanket to play with the curly hair on his toes, he was surprised, but not unpleased, by the sudden display of affection. Since their return from Buckland, they had slept beside each other, had cuddled and kissed, but had not made love. Sam had been so careful with him during his days of illness, and it was wonderful to be handled with a touch of passion again. "Have we time before Merry and Pip are back?"
"Plenty. Are you feeling up for it?"
"Yes, please!" Frodo shouted out loud in astonished delight when Sam scooped him up, blanket, book, and all, and carried him to the bedroom.
Only after they had spent a steady half-hour making up for lost time did Sam tell Frodo what he'd learned:
"It seems like Mr. Lotho's been getting into no end of quarrels--even fights!--all over Hobbiton. Your cousins, Mr. Milo Burrows and Mrs. Peony, for one. Robin didn't say what they quarreled about, but Mr. Milo was there tonight. Mr. Pippin and Merry was talking with him, and with Mr. Lad Whitfoot too--now, according to Tom and Nibs, he got into an awful row with Lotho the night he went off. I expect you'll hear more when they come in."
As he made his report, Sam rose to wash up; Frodo lay on the bed, watching him, and listened so far without interruption. When Sam paused to splash his face with water, Frodo asked him, "You went to the Green Dragon?"
"Yes, that's right." And Sam knew that Frodo knew it.
"You saw Rosie Cotton too, didn't you?"
"What's that got to do with anything?" Sam lowered the towel he was using to blot his wet face and asked back. He felt a twinge of guilt--but why should he? He hadn't done a thing he ought to feel guilty about.
"Oh, nothing." Frodo lay with his head on the crook of his arm, and regarded Sam pensively. "Who else?"
"Who-?"
"You said Lotho had been in several quarrels lately. Who were the others with? Were there very many of them?"
"Yes, lots." Sam listed the other people Robin had mentioned, and added that Lotho had left Hobbiton mysteriously several times before. "D'you mean to go on investigating this?" he asked when he had finished. "Robin says you're not suspected."
"And I'm happy to hear it," said Frodo, "but I'd like to wait for Merry and Pippin to get in and hear what they have to say before I decide if I want to go on."
Sam pulled his nightshirt on over his head. "You're sure you want to? It'll be hard on you if you do, just like before," he warned Frodo, remembering too well the results of the last time they had gone around conducting an investigation. "I don't mean just your running about, either, but what'll happen if one of your family has a part in Mr. Lotho's disappearing. You know how upset you got when it looked like one of your Brandybuck cousins killed Mr. Berilac."
"Yes, I know," Frodo said. As Sam returned to bed, Frodo sat up and scooted over a little to make room for him, then snuggled back into his arms. "I'll be careful. I promise I won't be drawn so deeply into things this time. After all, it's only Pimple, and we've no proof that he's dead. I rather suspect he isn't. That means that none of my cousins could possibly have done away with him. If it looks like I'm becoming tired or too upset, you'll put a stop to it, won't you?"
"You know I will," Sam told him. "I won't have you falling ill again when you're barely up out of bed."
In response to this dictum, Frodo gave him a soft smile. "You mustn't fret so much over my health, Sam. It's sweet of you, but I'm not as frail as that. I've rested, and I'm feeling much better." The small smile broadened. "If you didn't think so too, you wouldn't have swept me up and made love to me the way you did just now. You wouldn't hold me so tightly if you were really afraid I'd break in half at the slightest touch."
He was delivering a kiss, when they heard the front door open and Merry and Pippin came into the house, shouting, "Frodo, are you up?" Frodo and Sam drew apart quickly, and Frodo scrambled to locate and pull some nightclothes on before there were footsteps in the hall outside, some whispers, and then a tentative tap on the bedroom door.
"It's all right," Frodo called out as he fastened his buttons. "Come in."
His cousins burst into the room, both talking at once in their eagerness:
"Frodo! We've had the most marvelous luck-"
"We've learned all sort of things!"
"You'll never guess who we found at the Dragon. Oh, Sam told you already? Well, you'll never guess what Milo had to say about Pimple."
"Wait 'til you hear-!" Pippin sat down on the foot of the bed.
"Can you give me a minute?" Frodo told them, aware that Sam was pink-faced and embarrassed at being caught in bed with him, even if they were both sitting up and wearing nightshirts. Frodo didn't mind it; he was perfectly at ease with his cousins. They were the only people who truly knew and understood how he and Sam felt about each other--just as he understood them--but they were his cousins, not Sam's, and Sam's sense of intimacy with them was more reserved. Frodo got up and pulled on his dressing-gown. "I want to hear everything, but let's go into the kitchen. We can sit and talk more comfortably there. Besides, I think the two of you are a bit tipsy, and a spot of tea will clear your heads."
They went out to the kitchen. Sam put the kettle on while Merry and Pippin reported to Frodo.
"I don't know much about this land that was left to Peony and her brothers," Frodo said thoughtfully once he had heard the details of the Burrowses' problems with Lotho. "I've heard it talked about before, but I've never seen it. What does Lotho want it for?"
"Ah, now, Milo told us something else quite interesting that might explain that," said Merry. "Pimple and Lobelia haven't been on the best of terms themselves lately. It seems he wanted to marry a girl his mother didn't like. Somebody named Miss Daisy Puddlesby."
"Daisy Puddlesby? I've never heard of her," said Frodo. "Any idea who she is?"
Merry looked at Pippin, and both shook their heads. "It's not a family we know."
"I know the Puddlesbys," Sam told them as he brought the kettle of boiling water over to the table to fill the teapot. "They have a farm outside Needlehole. My brother Halfred lives up that way. Daisy's one of the daughters--the eldest, I think."
"Farmers?" Merry brightened. "Well, that explains a lot! We gathered that Lobelia didn't approve of Miss Puddlesby for marriage to her precious son. According to Milo, she thought the girl was a 'climber'."
"And, being one herself, Lobelia certainly ought to know a climber when she sees one!" Pippin interjected.
"As long as Lobelia holds the purse in that family, Lotho had to let Miss Puddlesby go," Merry went on, "but Milo says that he's heard that Lotho had defied his mother, sort of. He was still seeing this girl right before he disappeared."
"Do you suppose that's where he goes?" Frodo asked Sam, then explained to his cousins: "Sherriff Smallburrows says that Lotho has made a habit of leaving Hobbiton for mysterious trips before this."
"Only this time he didn't write his mother to say where he was," Sam added. "The more I hear of it, the more it seems to me that there's naught that needs investigating here. Most likely, Mr. Lotho's gone off of his own choice, and no harm's come to him."
"Yes, but I don't think that will satisfy Lobelia, unless we can produce Lotho, alive and well," said Frodo. "If she doesn't know where her son is, I'm sure we can rely on her to make a fuss, and make more wild accusations. And I admit I'm rather curious to learn what Lotho's been up to. Whatever it is, he's been planning it for a long time."
"Maybe they eloped?" guessed Pippin. "Milo thought that Pimple was trying to get hold of that land so he could set up a home for himself and this Daisy."
"Perhaps, but that's not where he is now. Would he be fighting so hard for it if he already had use of the place?" Frodo shook his head. "No, there must be something more going on. Oh, I don't say that someone's made off with him. I believe as Sam does, that Lotho's gone away for reasons of his own, but it sounds as if a lot of people would be glad if he stayed away for good. There's no harm in asking them a few questions. We might learn something that will tell us where Lotho is." He looked from one cousin to the other, then to Sam. "Can you speak with some of the people who've quarreled with him--Uncle Odo, Ted Sandyman, and so on? At least, can you speak with Milo again? I'd like to know more about this land that Lotho's so eager to get his hands on. If it's near the Puddlesby farm, that'd tell us we're looking in the right direction."
Pippin laughed. "Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could find him hiding there, drag him out by his toes, and toss him onto Lobelia's doorstep? That'd settle things nicely."
"If you want to know more about Peony's and Milo's quarrel with Pimple, you can ask them yourself," Merry told Frodo. "We've been invited to tea at Aunt Dora's tomorrow. You were asked to come too, Frodo. That's not 'running about,' is it?" he appealed to Sam.
"I don't see why I shouldn't," said Frodo. "Aunt Dora's house is barely a mile away. It's a pleasant walk on a warm, spring day, and certainly won't tire me." All of this was true, but Sam still looked concerned, and Frodo offered, "Why don't you come along, Sam?"
"Me?"
"Yes, why don't you? You can see for yourself that a tea party won't be too much for poor Frodo," Merry teased. "And you can take him home right away if he shows signs of collapsing over the jam and crumpets."
It was just as Sam had always known: Frodo would only obey him for as long as he wanted to. When he wanted to get up and go out, he would. A short walk to visit his aunt would probably do Frodo no harm. Nevertheless, Sam didn't like the idea of letting Frodo out of his sight for so long. "If you must go, I might as well walk over with you," he conceded reluctantly.
"Then you might as well come inside," Frodo replied. "It's about time for you to be introduced into Hobbiton society. Tea at Aunt Dora's is a good place to begin."
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