Frodo first went to have a look at the mill-path, where the incident had occured. Other people had been there since Hastred had gone into the water, but he hoped he might be able to find some clue to confirm his suspicions.
A bridge crossed the stream a few feet before it was diverted into the stone-walled channel that brought it to the huge millwheel, and led to the footpath that ran along the Bywater Pool. It wasn't unusual for courting couples to come here, especially after dark. A few couples lingered on the path now, although they seemed for the moment to be more interested in sight-seeing than cuddling. Nevertheless, Frodo lowered his torch discreetly as he passed them.
He went down the path as it ran alongside the outer side of the channel, which rose higher as the ground sloped down toward the water's edge, until the millwheel turned above him. There, a clump of yew trees grew against the stone wall, and stood black in the darkness; the muddy and churned ground, and the jagged hole broken in the thin layer of ice on the water below indicated that this was where Hastred had been pushed in. There were too many footprints on the path itself to make anything of, but when Frodo crouched down to examine the ground beneath the yews--carefully holding the torch to keep from setting the trees afire--he found a single pair of prints pressed into the mulch of soft earth and fallen needles. Someone had stood here, unseen in the darkness.
Frodo then rose, took a few steps back, and stood up on tip-toe to look at the wall of the mill above him. As he recalled, there was a half-circle side-door into the mill, opening just over the great wheel. One might easily enter or exit the building by crossing the platform over the millwheel...
"Most people don't come here by themselves and bringing lights, Frodo," an amused voice spoke nearby. "That's the last thing they want!"
He turned to find that Merry and Pippin had come up on the path behind him. They each had an arm around the other's waists.
"Where did you two go to?"
"Once the excitement was over, I thought I'd better have a quiet word with Pip--to make it up to him," Merry explained. "We wanted to find someplace private."
"Which isn't very easy tonight!" Pippin added. "Every place we go to already has somebody cuddled up in it. If we'd known you were going to be investigating, Frodo, we would've stayed around a little longer. Have we missed all the fun?"
"No," said Frodo, "there may be still be some excitement yet tonight."
His cousins looked very eager and interested. "Anything we can do to help?" Merry offered.
"I've got an idea about who pushed Hastred into the Pool, but I need some proof. You may help with that. Can you slip into the mill--through that little door there, if it's not been barred or locked--and have a look around? I want to see if you can find something in particular..." He told them what he was hoping to find.
Following Frodo's instructions, Merry and Pippin went up to the mill-wheel, stepped over the channel and tried the door; it wasn't locked, and they went into the mill.
Frodo returned to the Green. Except for a few whispering groups, the festivities had returned to normal. Ted left the Inn and crossed the Green, heading for the mill. To Frodo's alarm, he went inside. What if Ted were to catch Merry and Pippin in there? Could they explain what they were doing? Would any explanation satisfy Ted's suspicious mind?
But his fears were soon allayed, for his cousins came out around the side of the mill a moment later. Spotting Frodo, they shook their heads ruefully and raised empty hands to show that their search had not been successful.
Sam and Robin appeared on the far side of the Green, near the Inn. Nelda was with them, and Rosie and Marigold kept a wary watch over their friend to be certain that an injustice was not done. Frodo knew that the girls were relying on his assurances that everything would be all right... but would it? He still had no proof.
People were beginning to gather around the bonfire. Masks and ragged cloaks came off. It was time for the burning of castoffs. As each piece of old clothing went into the fire, a cheerful shout went up, and more hobbits came forward to strip away their own rags and toss them in.
It was then that Frodo saw Ted leave the mill; he held something in his arms, concealed beneath his cloak. As Ted made his way toward the bonfire through the laughing and shouting crowd, Frodo tried to follow, but there were too many people between them. Ted, close to the fire now, brought out the object he was carrying--a wadded bundle of red cloth.
"Sam," Frodo cried, "it's Ted! Stop him!"
Sam acted immediately, ploughing through the crowd. Robin was right behind him, shouldering people aside with a strength Frodo didn't possess.
Ted, hearing this shout, paused as he was about to throw the bundle into the fire and looked about. This gave Sam enough time to grab it from him. Ignoring Ted's cry of protest, Sam held the cloth up and shook it out for everyone to see: it was a red flannel cloak like Nelda's, but with one strip torn off.
"So it was Ted all along!" said Robin, and seized Ted by the arm to keep him from running off. Frodo made his way at last to the fire, and the three girls followed after Sam and Robin from the other side. "I never've guessed! But however did you know, Mr. Baggins?"
Frodo, finding everyone's eyes on him and feeling rather timid at speaking before so large an audience, explained, "I suspected Ted Sandyman when I heard that he was making accusations against Nelda even before he'd seen his cousin and learned that Hastred had torn a piece of red cloth from his attacker's costume. Why was Ted so insistent she was the one? When I saw that Miss Milkwort's costume wasn't torn, I was quite sure that she couldn't have done it. You and Sam said that Ted might have suggested the idea of Nelda to Hastred, Sherriff. I wondered if that wasn't so, and if he had somehow given that scrap of cloth to Hastred himself. If Hastred was telling the truth about how he'd come by it--and I had no reason to believe he was lying--then there was only one way Ted could have given it to him: he was the one wearing the red cloak Hastred saw, and grabbed hold of as he fell into the Pool."
"But why did he do such a thing?" asked Robin.
"Jealousy, Shirriff," Frodo replied. "Once I learned that Ted had been pursuing Nelda, without success, it seemed obvious what had happened. You see, she was the one he meant to have revenge upon all along, not his cousin--although I suspect he found some satisfaction in pushing in Hastred, who'd rejected the girl he couldn't get. Isn't that so, Ted?" He turned to Ted, who was being held fast by Robin and Sam at each elbow. "You must have planned this at least a week ago, when Hastred broke with Nelda, and she still would have nothing to do with you. You knew that she'd be in her usual red Tatters costume tonight, and you made one like it, and then waited for your chance. Hastred gave it to you when he went walking by the Pool with another girl, and Nelda was nowhere in sight. You put on your red cloak in the mill, and went out by the side door over the wheel. Hastred wouldn't see your face in the darkness, nor anything but the cloak. That's all he would remember."
Ted did not deny these accusations, but glared at Frodo furiously. He spat, "If I done it, at least I'm natural enough to be after a girl... not like you! Who d'ye think you're fooling--you and Sam Gamgee? D'ye think everybody don't know what you're about?"
An awkward silence descended on the crowd. There had been gossip around Hobbiton about Frodo and Sam, but no one had dared to say anything openly before. "Here, you-!" Sam raised a clenched fist as if he wanted nothing more than to punch the sneering hobbit, but Robin quickly reached out to take his wrist and stop him.
Hastred, still wet but recovered from his plunge, had come out of the Inn during Frodo's explanation and stood listening. Now, he lunged forward at his cousin, knocking Ted free of Sam's and Robin's relaxed grip. "It was you!" The two rolled on the ground by the bonfire, Hastred thumping his cousin with his fists, until Ted managed to escape him long enough to fly in the direction of the mill. Hastred flew after him, presumably to pay him back in kind.
"I don't say he isn't asking for it," Robin said as Ted raced off, his cousin at his heels, "but in the name 'o the peace, I'd best put a stop to it before Hasty tosses Ted into the Pool. We can't have that--not twice in the same night! Besides, somebody'll have to fish 'm out." But he didn't appear to be in any hurry to go after the pair. Robin also kept a grip on Sam's wrist, even though Ted had gone. "And, in the name 'o the peace, Sam Gamgee, I can't let you go punching Ted, no matter how he's begging for it." He appeared to have something more on his mind. At last, he came out with it: "And if you don't want there to be talk about you and Mr. Baggins, you oughtn't go and dance with him, nor kiss him smack in the middle of the Market Green during a festival, where everyone can see."
Sam gaped at his friend, utterly flabbergasted. "What d'you mean? I didn't- I wasn't-"
Rosie gave Sam a sharp look and, seeing his bewilderment, came forward to take his arm. "You've made a mistake, Robin. Sam wasn't dancing with anybody but me."
They both turned to Frodo. So did Robin. In fact, it seemed to Frodo that everyone who had been eagerly listening a minute ago to his clever explanation of how and why Ted had pushed Hastred into the Pool was now regarding him in an entirely different light. The blood rushed his face and, in the wake of his investigative triumph, he suddenly felt like a fool. It had simply not occurred to him that if he could confuse Merry for Sam, so might others who didn't know either lad as well. How many people like Robin and Ted had seen that kiss tonight, and made the same mistaken assumption?
He had no choice but to explain. "That wasn't Sam, Sherriff. It was my cousin, Merry Brandybuck. He's also wearing green tonight." As evidence, Frodo pointed out Merry, who stood with Pippin at the edge of the crowd and did not look in the least embarrassed.
Robin's expression brightened. "Mr. Merry? Well, no wonder! He's just the sort to go about kissing boys, isn't he?"
"Yes, I'm afraid he is," Frodo agreed.
The rest of the party murmured and nodded knowingly. Everybody had heard about Merry Brandybuck. That was just the sort of thing he'd do. Frodo's moment of celebrity had not been damaged after all, but he could see that Sam did not look any happier. Quite the contrary.
Robin went off to find the Sandymans before Hasty threw Ted into the Pool. Nelda came forward to thank Frodo for helping her, and Marigold and Rosie followed suit; in rapid succession, Frodo received three pecks on the cheek from girls he was not related to--the first time that had ever happened! The casting-off continued and, after the last rag had gone into the fire, the band began to play again. Rosie reclaimed Sam for one last dance, and Merry had a dance with Pippin. Frodo sat this one out.
At the evening's end, the four hobbits walked back to Bag End. In the Bywater Market, the fiddler was playing a final, slow and sad parting tune. Frodo's cousins had gathered their belongings from the Inn and followed a little behind; Merry had his arm around Pippin and was evidently still making up to him by whispering in his ear, nuzzling his neck, and making him laugh.
Frodo knew he had some making up of his own to do.
"Are you angry, Sam?" he ventured as he put his arm through Sam's. "You mustn't mind Merry. He was only playing when he kissed me. You know how he is."
"It isn't Mr. Merry I mind," Sam answered. "I know how he plays about, just as you say. But I mind about you."
"I'm sorry," Frodo murmured. "I never meant to hurt your feelings."
"Never mind me. Think of your reputation! You know how people'll talk."
"I only danced with Merry because I wanted to dance so badly... with you. There'd be much worse talk if I did that! I'm such a coward. I don't have the kind of courage they do." He inclined his head slightly backwards to indicate his cousins, who walked about ten yards behind them in the dark lanes between Hobbiton and Bywater. No one else was around, and Frodo didn't care what Merry and Pippin saw. They wouldn't care, even if they noticed.
Frodo stopped walking and turned to Sam. Winding an arm around Sam's neck, he leaned close to whisper, "Will you dance with me, Sam?"
In the midst of a frosty midwinter night, under the light of the stars, they had their dance.
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