"By the time I got to the Proudfoots, I only had the marked pie-pan left," Frodo told Sam after he'd returned to Bag End with his basket empty and his arms aching. Sam had taken him into the kitchen. He'd missed luncheon and the maidservant was washing up, but Mrs. Parmiggen, the cook Frodo had engaged after Rosie's death, warmed up some leftover soup for him. They sat at the kitchen table and Sam made sure Frodo ate while he reported on his morning's work.
"What'd you do with it in the end?" Sam asked him.
"I gave it to Aunt Pru, although I'm sure the pearls were never near her kitchen. I'm rather sorry I left her for last, even if the Proudfoots are on the southern side of the Hill and so far from everyone else. If I'd gone there earlier, I wouldn't have wondered if the missing pie on Peony's list was important."
"And it wasn't?"
"Not in the least! It was Aunt Pru all along, you see. She'd promised to bring two pies to the party--baked two, as a matter of fact, but Sancho managed to eat most of one in the night, so she let him finish it off for breakfast before they went over to Aunt Dora's."
"I should've known that that Sancho'd be in it somewhere. But it must've been one of the others you talked to before her," Sam concluded. "One of them that brought just the one pie."
"That's right. I didn't find out much when I spoke to Mrs. Chubb. She's a dear friend of Aunt Prisca's, but when I spoke to her, she was more interested in telling me all about her son Dandy now he's home from his honeymoon. Mrs. Grubb is also a friend. Both of them have been to Aunt Prisca's several times in the last few weeks." Frodo dipped a piece of bread into his soup and popped it into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully for a moment before he said, "Then there's Mrs. Lumbly. She's the most interesting of the three, Sam. She's no friend of Aunt Prisca's. From the way she laughed when she spoke of where those pearls turned up, I'd say she feels my aunt received her just deserts. I might easily believe she'd stolen the pearls if I could only figure out how she managed to do it. Aunt Prisca says she hasn't seen Mrs. Lumbly in years. Mrs. Lumbly never calls on her, and she couldn't have stolen into the house while Aunt Prisca was out. Aunt Prisca is never out. Yesterday's party was the first time she'd been farther than her own garden since last autumn, and the pearls were surely in the jewelry box then."
"What about this Mrs. Lumbly's cook? She has one, doesn't she?"
"I've asked about her too. Aunt Prisca says she's never heard of Mrs. Crump."
Mrs. Parmiggen laughed. She'd been quietly straightening up the kitchen until now, and Frodo had barely been aware that she and the maidservant were there. He'd given all the servants yesterday off and they hadn't gone to Dora's party, but they had all heard what had happened there.
He quickly turned to look up at her. "What is it, Mrs. Parmiggen?"
"Miss Baggins mightn't know Mrs. Crump," she told him, "but she's heard of her."
It took Frodo a moment to understand this. "You mean, Mrs. Crump has heard of my aunt?" The remark still made little sense; Mrs. Crump had said she'd heard about the "rumpus" at Dora's party and must know whose pearls were involved. At the very least, she'd heard his aunt's name from him.
But the cook answered, "That's right, Mr. Frodo. Miss Baggins might never've set eyes on her, but that don't mean them as works in her house can say the same."
Frodo recalled what Prisca had said about the cooks around Hobbiton all knowing each other. He knew for himself that it was true. When he'd asked Peony for help in engaging reliable servants, she'd asked Dora's cook and maid, and they had recommended friends or relatives. Mrs. Parmiggen was a distant cousin of Dora's cook who had left her present position in Frogmorton to come and work for him. Hazel, the maid, was their niece. They were both probably acquainted with the servants at his Aunt Prisca's as well as in Mrs. Lumbly's house. Mrs. Parmiggen seemed to be. She was certainly hinting at some connection between the two households, although he wasn't yet certain what she was referring to.
"As a matter of fact," he said, "my aunt Prisca's cook and maidservants claim that they don't know Mrs. Crump. Are you saying that they've lied, Mrs. Parmiggen?"
"Oh, not them. I don't know `em myself, as they've come from off Waymoot-way. But you can be sure Rina Crump's heard a thing or two about Miss Baggins from her sister as works there, and contrary-wise. If she told you otherwise, Mr. Frodo, then she's told a lie--and so has that sister o' hers."
"Her sister-?" At last, Frodo understood who Mrs. Parmiggen was referring to. There was only one other person in Prisca's house. He also saw quite clearly how the pearls had gotten from Prisca's jewelry box to Dora's party.
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