"You said it was obvious," Sam said to Frodo the next day in the sitting room at Bag End. They had returned home after the Fairbairns had come back to the cottage that morning and heard what had happened. Frodo meant to visit his cousin Peony that afternoon to tell her how the investigation had turned out. "You guessed it was Mrs. Windle and her daughters right away, but we didn't see it at all."
Robin nodded in agreement. It was his day off duty, but he had reported to his Chief in Bywater before coming here; he had to tell Frodo how very pleased the Chief Shirriff was about the outcome of this most peculiar mystery and that he had sent Mr. Baggins his warmest regards. Robin also wanted to convey his own thanks to Frodo. "I would never have guessed what was going on without your help, Mr. Baggins. Will you tell us how you figured it out?"
Frodo smiled at this rather flattering appeal. "Well, it did seem obvious to me once I'd met all the family and considered who would be most likely to search for those jewels in the cottage."
"The whole family," said Robin. "They'd all want to find them, wouldn't they?"
"Yes, but Mr. Taggart owns the cottage and he lives just down the road," Frodo explained. "By his own account, it sat empty for months before he rented it to the Fairbairns. He and his wife had plenty of time to search for the jewelry and even knock holes in the walls and floors if they pleased without waiting to shift the Fairbairns' rugs and furnishings. Mrs. Broadbelt and Ruby Chubb also live nearby and could have searched before this. We know that they all did search the cottage after their mother's death, and came away unsatisfied. If Mrs. Broadbelt wanted to continue looking for them after the rest of the family had given up, I don't believe she'd sneak. She'd be quite frank about it. And if the Fairbairns were after the jewels, they could go about searching the cottage quietly and never draw attention to themselves."
Sam began to understand. "But Mrs. Windle-?"
Frodo nodded. "She hasn't been in the neighborhood for many years, and only came back to her family home a few weeks ago. She never had an opportunity to search for her mother's jewelry before. Besides, if Ruby or Mrs. Glora Taggart had found the jewelry, they couldn't hope to keep it secret unless they never wore any of the pieces. If they did, Mrs. Broadbelt would know about it and demand the return of her property. The famous emeralds are hers by rights and she'd be certain to want them back. Likewise, if Mrs. Broadbelt found the jewels and wanted to keep them all to herself, she couldn't wear the emeralds without the others knowing--and that's a sacrifice I don't think she'd be willing to make. But if Mrs. Windle found them, she could carry the jewelry box quietly back to Haysend and bring all the jewels out, even the emeralds, once she was home without her family ever hearing of it. She would eventually pass the whole lot on to her own daughters, and of course her daughters would see that as an incentive to help her search."
"I always said you was the cleverest hobbit in the Shire," Sam said appreciatively. "This just goes to prove it."
Frodo blushed, but he was gratified by the praise.
There was a knock on the door, and Sam got up to answer it. Mrs. Broadbelt, Mr. Taggart, and his daughter Medora had come by.
"We've just seen our sister Opal and her darling daughters off from Ruby's house," Mrs. Broadbelt told Frodo once Sam had shown the party into the sitting room. "They're leaving Bywater."
"I've agreed not to have them arrested if they returned to their own home immediately," Mr. Taggart added. "Opal's let it be known that her husband's been taken ill."
"I told her that we'd send her Mother's gold combs if they were ever found," said his sister with that same dry note she had used the night before. "It all she deserves--and more than she would have done for us."
"I showed the girls the cottage one day after they first came here, while Florrie and Jaro were out," Medora told her aunt and father. "They asked me if they could see it. I didn't think anything of it, 'til Mr. Baggins asked me about them yesterday. And Pola and Pella left me that afternoon long before tea-time. They must have gone straight to the cottage after Florrie and Jaro left it to shift things about. Oh, Aunt Nettie, I'm so sorry! I didn't know what they were up to. They seemed like such nice, friendly girls. I'm ashamed to have such awful cousins."
"Never mind, Meddy dear," her father said comfortingly. "They deceived us all."
"I never trusted Opal myself," said Mrs. Broadbelt. "She was always a sneaking sort of girl, even five-and-twenty years ago, and her daughters take after her."
"You knew they were responsible when you went to call on Ruby yesterday, didn't you?" Frodo asked her.
"I wondered, and I thought I would go and find out for myself," Mrs. Broadbelt responded. "Opal's too small to move huge chests and wardrobes alone, but the instant I saw those hearty-looking daughters of hers, I guessed the truth."
"But, Mr. Baggins," asked Medora, "where are Grandmother's jewels?"
"I'm afraid I don't know," Frodo admitted.
"Perhaps we might better have let Opal and her girls go on searching until they found them," said Mrs. Broadbelt.
"I'm glad you didn't! You couldn't let them go around knocking holes in the walls looking for hiding places," said Bardo. "Nor do I want to do so myself, except as a last resort. Can you help us, Mr. Baggins?" he appealed to Frodo. "I'm ready to pay quite a good fee for your assistance."
Frodo didn't care about the fee, but he saw that he was only halfway through this mystery. He had helped Robin solve the problem of the break-in at the Fairbairns cottage; now, the children of the late Mrs. Taggart turned to him to find what the attempted thieves could not.
"I'll do what I can," he answered, "but I need to know more about your mother. If I know more of what she did in her last days, it might give me some clue as to where she hid her jewelry box." He thought for a minute. "You said that there was a maid who looked after her."
"You mean Dilly? But she doesn't know where the jewels are," said Bardo. "We asked her after Mother died--asked her many times, until I'm sure the poor old dear became addled with it. She's quite aged now, you know."
"Old Dilly must be at least 110!" his daughter agreed.
"Where is she now?" asked Frodo. "Can I speak to her?"
"She's here in Hobbiton," Mr. Taggart answered. "After Mother passed on, Dilly said she didn't have the heart to stay on at the cottage, and she went to live with her sister in a little bungalow in the Grange lane."
"You don't think she's carried them off?" Sam wondered.
"Preposterous!" exclaimed Mrs. Broadbelt. "Dilly was devoted to Mother. She wouldn't dream of betraying her trust and taking things that didn't belong to her... any more than I'm sure you would betray Mr. Baggins."
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