Love Letters: A Frodo Investigates! Mystery by Kathryn Ramage

Two days later, after he had returned to Bag End, Frodo received a note in the morning post from Angelica, saying that she and Camellia Stillwaters would call upon him at tea-time. He went into the kitchen, where Sam was finishing his second breakfast and Rosie sat at the opposite side of the table nibbling on an unbuttered roll.

"I say, Rose, can we have something specially nice for tea this afternoon? I'm expecting company, two ladies."

He hadn't intended for Rosie to become his housekeeper when she'd married Sam--Bag End was to be her house as much as his--but once she'd settled in, Rosie seemed to regard looking after him and managing the household as being as much a part of her new duties as caring for Sam. Plus, she seemed to hold the odd prejudice of most working-class hobbits that a gentleman couldn't be expected to do anything for himself.

"Of course, Mr. Frodo," Rosie answered. "We've got some nice, fresh cream in the cold-larder, just fit for cream-tarts. What about blueberries? I could make some nice little blueberry tarts. They're in season, and I'll fetch some from the Bywater market when I do my shopping."

"Thank you--that'll be lovely."

"Are you feeling up to it?" Sam asked.

Frodo assumed that Sam was worried about his receiving visitors so soon after his long journey to Michel Delving--but just as he opened his mouth to reply, he realized that Sam was speaking to Rose. She was in the early weeks of her first pregnancy and had felt queasy earlier that morning, skipping her first breakfast. She seemed to be feeling better now but, to Sam, a missed meal was always a cause for concern.

"I'll go to the market instead of Rose," Sam offered, then told his wife, "You shouldn't be going all that way and back, carrying heavy baskets."

"Don't be silly, Sam. It's only first thing in the mornings I'm a bit off, and the sickly feeling passes quick enough. Some fresh air and a walk to Bywater will do me good..." Rosie gave him a flirtatious smile, "Whyn't you come shopping with me? You can carry the basket if you like."

Sam was happy to accept this offer. Now, he turned to Frodo and asked, "Who're these ladies coming to tea?"

"My cousin Angelica. She's bringing a friend."

"Why the fuss? You don't like her."

"No..." said Frodo, although he did seem to be getting on better terms with Angelica since she had married. "But the friend may be a client."

The excitement of last autumn, when Frodo had become famous as an investigator, had died down, but one or two people still knocked on the door of Bag End each week to ask for his help. Frodo's efforts were limited since he had been ill throughout the spring, but he aided them whenever he could.

He told Sam a little of what Angelica had told him about her friend's predicament.

"It's the first real investigation you've had since your bad spell," Sam said. "Are you sure you're fit for it?"

"I may need assistance," Frodo conceded. "I can count on your help, can't I, Sam?"

"'Course you can!" Sam assured him. "You've only got to ask."

Rosie and Sam went out to do their shopping, and Frodo's guests arrived at Bag End shortly before 4:00 that afternoon.

Frodo had thought it odd that a vain and selfish girl like Angelica would have a close girl-friend, but when he saw Camellia Stillwaters, he understood: Camellia could never be a threat to Angelica's vanity. She was a plain, quiet-looking young lady with long, sandy ringlets and a timid face. Although she was taller than Angelica and he by several inches, she seemed to shrink and fade beside his cousin's radiant good looks. If Frodo had ever met her before, he couldn't recall it.

"We've been at Aunt Dora's," Angelica explained as Frodo showed the two ladies into the best parlor, where Rose had laid out their tea. "She wanted us to stop for tea with her, but I said we already had another engagement. I've left the baby with Aunt Peony. The family's still angry about how I tricked everyone to marry Lad, but they adore my Willa and she's making up for anything scandalous I might've done to have her."

"Willa is a dear little girl," Camellia said with a wistful, shy smile. "I'd love to have a baby like her for my own."

"You have no children, Mrs. Stillwaters?" Frodo inquired as he offered them tea and some of Rosie's blueberry tartlets.

"No..." she shook her head. "Not yet. I've only been married six months."

"Do you and your husband live near here?" asked Frodo. "I believe your family is from Overhill?"

"Yes, that's right, but we don't live here now. Val--that's my husband--and I, we live near Budgeford, with Val's mother."

"Camellia's visiting her family here while her husband is at the Lithetide races," Angelica added. "They'll be going home tomorrow, so this was the most convenient time for her to come and see you."

Camellia nodded in agreement. She seemed ill at ease, and Frodo waited until after the ladies had had some refreshment and Camellia looked more comfortable before he got on with the reason for her visit. "Angelica's told me something of your problem, Mrs. Stillwaters. Will you tell me more? I'd like to hear what happened in your own words, and learn something of your situation."

Camellia glanced at Angelica, who briefly took her friend's hand and said soothingly, "You can trust Frodo, Cammie. He never tells secrets. I'll leave you to talk." She left the parlor to have a chat with Rosie. It was only polite that Angelica speak to Rose while she was here. While the two had been in very different social circles as unmarried girls, they'd become acquainted during Sam's and Rosie's honeymoon visits to Michel Delving. As married ladies, one with her first baby and the other expecting, they had much more in common.

"Will you tell me?" Frodo repeated once he and Camellia were alone.

"You see, there was a boy..." Camellia began timidly, then the color rushed to her cheeks and she faltered.

"And your parents objected to him," Frodo prompted, to encourage her to speak further, but his visitor shook her head.

"No, not my parents. I'm an orphan."

"But I understood that you were visiting your family? I thought Angelica said-" Frodo was certain that his cousin had mentioned Camellia's family several times.

"She meant my aunt and uncle," Camellia explained. "My parents died when I was barely in my tweens, and Aunt Rue and Uncle Turlo brought me up. They always did their best to look out for me, and the money my parents had left me. They tried to protect me from fortune-hunters."

"Is that what they thought this boy-"

"Rolo," Camellia supplied the name. "Rolo Bindbole." Then she explained in a sudden burst of confidence: "He came from Bindbole Wood, to be 'prenticed to the Bywater smith. We met at a harvest dance two years ago. His family was very poor, and he had no money of his own beyond what was in his pockets, but he asked to marry me all the same. I wasn't yet three-and-thirty, so I must ask my aunt and uncle for their permission. They wouldn't allow it."

"They thought that Rolo wanted to marry you for your money?"

"Yes, that's right. Uncle Turlo had a word with Rolo's master, and he was dismissed. He went back to the Wood, and I never saw him again--but Uncle made him return all the letters I wrote him. Aunt Rue said it was for the best, and I was lucky to have them look out for me. But I didn't think so. It felt terrible, at the time." She had leaned forward over the tea table toward Frodo as she spoke in a low, quick voice, and she was crushing folds of her skirt in her clenched hands. "I couldn't believe it of Rolo, but now that my letters have been taken, I don't know what to think! Who else might want them, or would know that I had them?"

"Then you suspect he's taken them?" Frodo asked. "Has he been seen near Budgeford?" Bindbole Wood was more than forty miles from Budgeford.

"I haven't seen Rolo," Camellia answered quickly, then added, "It was my maid, I think, who actually took the letter from the house. Only after she left my service, I realized that they were missing from their hiding place."

"Where was this hiding place?"

"In a secret compartment of my old portable writing desk. I've had it since I was small, and brought it with me to Stillwater Hall when I married. There's a false panel at the back, beneath the hinged lid, and a few inches of space where I've always hidden my special treasures."

"You're quite sure it wasn't your husband who found them?"

"No!" Camellia shook her head. "Val hasn't the least idea there was anyone else." She turned pleading eyes up to Frodo. "I haven't been unhappy with him--please, don't think that. He's always been very sweet to me and I've no complaints of him, only... but he's not the one I would have chosen to marry if I'd been allowed my own way. I wish I'd been as brave as Angelica. Even if Rolo was after my money, that doesn't meant he would've been a bad husband once he'd gotten it. He wouldn't have turned to the bad, and had to steal. All the same, I'd like to have my letters back."

Frodo remembered what Angelica had said about Camellia's reason for keeping her old love letters: "She still loved him, I suppose." Apparently, she did even now.

"Can you help me, Mr. Baggins?" she asked him. "And, please, don't let Val or my uncle and auntie know."

"I'll do what I can," Frodo promised and, since Camellia seemed to be shaken by the effort of telling him her secrets, he poured her another cup of tea to calm her down. "I have just a few more questions, and then we are finished for today. Angelica will see you home. Who else lives at Stillwater Hall besides you and your husband? You mentioned his mother."

"Yes, Val's mother lives there," said Camellia. "It's her house. She's a widow. Besides the three of us, there are only a few servants, who've been with Mother Stillwaters for ages."

"What about your maid? Was she in your employ before you married?"

"No. Mother Stillwaters engaged her for me when I first went to live at the Hall."

"Did your mother-in-law also dismiss her, or did the maid leave your service for reasons of her own?"

"Mother Stillwaters sent her away. She said the girl was unsuitable."

"How long ago did this happen?"

Camellia thought about this. "It was near the beginning of June, perhaps three weeks ago."

"And when did you discover your letters were missing?"

"About a week after that."

"One last question, Mrs. Stillwaters," said Frodo. "What was this maid's name?"

"Betula. Betula Root."
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