The young hobbit who knocked at the front door of Bag End that chilly morning had well-tailored clothes, the nice manners of a gentlehobbit, and the distinctive red hair and fox-like features of a Took.
"Odonto Took, at your service," he introduced himself after Rosie had shown him in to Frodo in his study and he had thrown off his fur-trimmed cloak.
The name was vaguely familiar, but Frodo couldn't quite place it. He was sure he'd never met this personable young gentlehobbit before. "One of the North-Tooks?" he guessed. His visitor spoke with a north-Shire accent.
"That's right. We haven't met, but I've heard a great deal about you from the Thain's family in the Long Cleeve--I'm only a distant cousin, you know, though I've had the honor to be welcomed into the Thain's own household by my marriage to one of the old Thain's granddaughters. You may recall meeting my wife. Her name is Vida."
"Vidalia Lowfoot?" Frodo brightened. "Yes, of course." Vidalia was the old North-Thain's daughter's youngest child; she'd been betrothed to Odonto when he'd met her while investigating the poisoning of Thain Brabantius two years ago. "I was so sorry to hear about Thain Brabantius's death this autumn past."
"Thank you," Odonto replied solemnly. "We were all very grieved, but he was 112 and had lived a long and prosperous life. It had to end one day, and you gave him a few more years than he might've had, Mr. Baggins. That was why Thain Alhasrus sent me down to call on you. He thought you might be of help in another delicate situation. We need help, you see, in finding Diamond."
"Diamond?" Frodo had no difficulty recalling that shy young girl; the Tooks, north and south, had been trying to match her with Pippin for years now. "What's happened to her? Is she lost?"
"She's run off with Isigo Pumble. There's no sign of them in the Cleeve--in fact, some young people were seen going out the southern gap a week ago, and it's assumed that it was them. I don't know how much you've kept in touch with the Tooks in the Cleeve since you visited them, Mr. Baggins?"
"I've heard a little." Pippin corresponded with both Isigo and Diamond's cousin Diantha, and Frodo occasionally heard fragments of their news through him. While in the Long Cleeve, Pippin had done his best to encourage a romance between Diamond and Isigo; from subsequent gleeful remarks of Pippin's, he gathered that these efforts had met with some success, but he'd had no idea it had gone so far. "Isigo was sweet on her when we were there," he said carefully, "and I've heard since that she's become rather fond of him. Her parents disapproved, but Thain Brabantius didn't object to them seeing each other."
"Yes, that's so," Odonto agreed. "The Old Thain was always fond of Isigo, in spite of his mother's scandalous behavior--running off with poor old Florisel! Aunt Di will still have it that she was the one who tried to poison Thain Brabantius. You know that Thain Brabantius made Isigo his land-agent? Yes, and he continued to treat Isigo as his own son whenever he was at the house, whatever fuss his children and grandchildren might make about it. When he saw little Di and Isigo talking together, he'd smile on them. I don't believe he would've minded if they'd married one day. But once he died, the rest of the family put a stop to all that. The new Thain, Uncle Alhasrus, dismissed Isigo from his place as agent and forbade him to come to the house. He would've stopped Isigo from receiving his inheritance from the Old Thain too, only Uncle Alamaric saw to that. Uncle Alamaric and his daughter have stood by him first to last, and let him stay with them since he's been forbidden the Thain's Hall. Diantha's gone off too, by the way. If you ask me, she's been helping the two go on seeing each other in secret and most likely helped them plan their flight.
"I daresay you're sympathetic to them yourself, Mr. Baggins?" The young hobbit met Frodo's eyes speculatively. "You and your friends were on good terms with Isigo when you were at the Hall. That's why it took so long for the family to decide to send someone to ask for your help--Aunt Di and Aunt Aspid, not to mention my mother-in-law, all say you'll be on Isigo's side. They're afraid you'll refuse to help, or you'll say you'll help but work against them in favor of Isigo marrying Diamond. That's why, in the end, Uncles Alhasrus and Alamargo decided to send me. They know you didn't get on with my cousins, Diamond's brothers and the Thain's heir. And I suppose they wanted to see how well I'd do for the family." He met Frodo's eyes again, more candidly this time. "You see, I think Isigo's not so bad as some of them make him out to be. I don't blame him for whatever his mother is supposed to have done, and I think the Tooks have done him a bad turn by treating him like an outcast. If nothing else, it's made him more sympathetic to Diamond. She's a tender-hearted girl, you know. But all the same, I agreed to come and see you, and carry out my duty. This is a sort of test for me as well."
"I assure you, Mr. Took, that if I accept this case, I'll do my best to find them," Frodo answered rather stiffly. He was fond of Isigo and would like to help him as well as Diamond, but he resented the North-Tooks questioning his honesty.
"I hoped you'd say that!" Odonto said. "I knew you'd see it in the right way. After all, no matter what one thinks of Isigo or his marrying Diamond, they are both still underage. They ought to be made to listen to reason for their own sake, before any- er- mischief is done."
"Yes," Frodo agreed reluctantly.
"Then you will try to find them?"
"Er- yes," Frodo agreed again, feeling that he'd been manipulated into it. But he would not refuse the assignment. "As a matter of fact, I think I can already guess where they've gone. I shall go and visit my friend, Pippin Took."
It didn't require the skills of a great detective to guess that if Diamond and Isigo had come south, they would go to the one person most likely to help them. Nothing would make Pippin happier than seeing the girl his parents wanted him to marry wed to another boy.
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The Diamond Dilemma by Kathryn Ramage
Story notes: This story takes place in the winter of 1425, S.R.
Diamond Took and her cousin Diantha are introduced in the Frodo Investigates! mystery "The Wrong Girl."
The story of the Frodo's adventure with the Tooks of the North Cleeve is "The North-Thain's Murder."
December 2009
