When hobbits were not drinking ale--so the old saying went--they were drinking tea. A tea party was more of an opportunity for ladies to gather and gossip than gentlemen, but any occasion for hobbits to enjoy themselves in the company of their friends, and where food and drink were served, was universally popular.
That afternoon, Frodo put on the best clothes he had brought with him, and walked to his Aunt Asphodel's smial on the other side of the river. Sam saw him off, but even though Rolo had gone and he had no reason to remain at the inn, declined to accompany him. Beryl, Estella, and Ilbie were already at Asphodel's; with the ladies in a carriage and the two lads riding their ponies behind, they went to Stillwater Hall.
Mrs. Stillwater was surprised to see Frodo among Asphodel's party, but welcomed him in and asked him if he could stay for a private conversation after tea--"to discuss how your investigation has progressed since we last met." Frodo consented.
Tea was served in the drawing room, with plates of sandwiches, seedcakes, tarts and other dainties laid out lavishly on tables around the room, but since it was a lovely, sunny day, the door to the garden was opened so that guests could wander in and out as they liked. There were a number of hobbits whom Frodo didn't know; most were elderly and middle-aged ladies who were part of Asphodel's select social circle, or young girls who were friends of Estella's. Both introduced Frodo with a note of pride, since he was the well-known detective. The older ladies hoped for some information; in spite of Mrs. Stillwaters's efforts to avoid a scandal, they could guess why Frodo was here. The girls giggled and said they were sure his work must be fascinating, but they were more interested, and giggled more delightedly, when Estella presented Ilberic.
Mr. Bilbury was also among the guests. "Mrs. Stillwaters invited me to return after my morning visit," he explained when Frodo stopped to speak to him. "We had a talk about Cammie, but I suppose you and I ought to talk as well, Mr. Baggins. No doubt you've turned up a few things that Mrs. Bilbury and I ought to know."
"Yes, I have, and perhaps you might tell me a few things too." This wasn't the place for an interview, but Frodo thought he might try a question or two now. "May I ask: When Camellia wrote Mrs. Bilbury, did she say that she might have some particular news to give you?"
"No, only that she was coming."
"She distinctly said she would arrive at your house in Overhill? She didn't ask you or your wife to meet her anywhere along the way?"
"No, of course not!" Mr. Bilbury huffed at the question. "Whyever would she do that?"
"Why indeed? We will have to speak privately, Mr. Bilbury, when it's more convenient for us both." But, right now, Frodo had a more important matter that required his attention.
After he'd left the bewildered Mr. Bilbury, Frodo went outside to see what other doors led into Stillwater Hall, and where he might possibly enter the more private rooms without being noticed. As he walked around behind the house, Frodo found Val in the back garden, seated alone on a wooden bench before the large lily-pond surrounded by flower beds. Val wore another striking waistcoat, this one of pale green with silvery leaves and vines embroidered on the front. Frodo thought that he really must find out the name of Val's tailor.
"Mr. Stillwaters," he said.
Val looked up, startled at the voice, but when he saw Frodo on the other side of the pond, he smiled. "It's you, Mr. Baggins. How pleasant to see you again. I'd heard you'd come back. Asked to Mother's tea, were you?"
"Not quite. I came with my Aunt Del," Frodo explained as he walked around the pond. "I didn't expect to find you here. I'd understood that you were rarely at home during the day."
"Did your cousin Fredegar tell you that? Yes, I know that he's been following my activities of late. I'm also aware that, in addition to Fredegar, you seem to have gathered an impressive little army of spies at the Badgers." Val didn't sound outraged about this, more as if he were resigned to the situation and even amused by their obviousness. "Have any of them come with you and Mrs. Burrows today?"
"Only Estella and my cousin Ilberic Brandybuck," said Frodo. "Ilbie isn't spying: Estella hopes to marry him."
"Really? How wonderful for her. I suppose I ought to go in and offer the child my congratulations--but I do hate the idea of entering that room full of gossiping old ladies and know they're watching my every move and whispering behind my back. I prefer to stay out of their sight."
"Would you rather I went away and left you alone?" Frodo offered.
"No, stay. Come and talk to me." Val gestured to the empty half of the bench beside him to invite Frodo to sit down. Frodo took the seat rather shyly, feeling that same bewildered uncertainty about Val's overtures of friendliness as he had on that day when Val had come to him to apologize. Flirtation or not, was it an attempt to win him over? "Tell me of your investigation. What have you learned so far, Mr. Baggins?"
"Much that puzzles and frightens me," Frodo admitted.
"Have you discovered where my wife is?"
"Not yet, I'm afraid. Do you know where she is, Mr. Stillwaters?"
"No, I don't. I've already told you and your minions so, and my answer won't change until I see her again, or until you tell me you've found her."
"Do you know about the boy she was supposed to have been in love with-" Frodo ventured, but only got so far before Val laughed.
"Yes, I know. In spite of Mother's best efforts, I have heard the gossip. It's all over Budgeford now. People will say the ugliest things!"
"Then you don't believe it?"
Val might easily have taken offense at this question, which cast doubt upon his wife's virtue, but he did not respond indignantly. He only answered Frodo with a mild terseness, "No, I don't. Whether it was true or not that Camellia had some sort of romance with this boy before we married, I refuse to believe there's anything in it now. She hasn't gone to him."
"You may be right about that," said Frodo.
Val lifted his eyebrows and looked extremely interested. "You've seen the boy?"
Frodo nodded. "My 'minions' found him, and I spoke to him yesterday. He says he hasn't seen her."
"And you take him at his word?"
"No... but I don't believe he's keeping her."
Val's eyes went over his face, as if he didn't know whether or not to believe Frodo, then he relaxed and sank back against the bench. "Well, then that's that!"
Once again, Frodo didn't know what to make of Val's reaction. In spite of his protests, did he actually think his wife had run away with Rolo? And now saw signs that it mightn't be true, why wasn't he wondering what had happened to her? There were some husbands who would rather have a wife mysteriously lost than a wife undeniably unfaithful--"possessive, jealous and clinging brutes," Val himself had called them--but Frodo would not have thought that Val was that sort after he had mocked them. Or was he mistaken, and was Val mocking his own honest feelings?
Frodo stayed a few more minutes, talking with Val about Milo--Val remembered Milo more fondly than Milo had remembered him--then excused himself and left. As long as Val was seated here, it would be impossible for him to get into the house via a back door unnoticed. He was going to need assistance after all.
When he returned to the drawing room, Frodo quickly located Estella and took her by the arm to draw her away from Ilbie and the group of congratulatory young hobbits who had gathered around them.
"'Stella, would you like to help with my investigation?" he asked her softly.
"Yes, Frodo, of course! What can I do?"
"I need you to create a disturbance, something that will draw everyone's attention to you for a few minutes. Can you do it?"
Estella quailed at the thought of being the center of attention, but she nodded.
"Good girl! Wait 'til I've gone to the other side of the room before you do anything."
Estella nodded again, and tried not to follow Frodo with her eyes as he went to the table near the door to have another slice of seedcake. She turned her back to him and stood for a moment, uncertain, then took a step or two as if she meant to return to her friends. Then she fainted.
Frodo thought it rather implausible--light-headed and sleepless with worry as he was, as well as nervous about the search he was about to conduct, he felt as if he were far more likely to swoon than lively little Estella--but she performed beautifully: her eyes rolled back; she dropped to knees with a soft groan, then fell face-down onto the rug with her head in her arms. Ilbie shouted and ran forward to take her up. In an instant, everyone was on their feet, gathering to make a fuss over the prostrate girl. Estella was carried to the nearest sofa. Mrs. Stillwater called for a glass of brandy to revive her.
In the confusion, Frodo left the drawing-room and stole down the corridor that led to the family bed-chambers. Although he had never been in Mrs. Stillwaters's rooms, his previous visit had given him an idea of the house's arrangement and he quickly found them farther down the same hallway as Val's and Camellia's. The lady of the house had an elegant suite of bedroom, boudoir, dressing room, and private bath. There was a desk in a small study-nook off the boudoir, and Frodo went directly to it, as the most obvious place to begin his search. He looked through the cubbyholes and desk drawers, heart pounding all the while. How would explain himself if he were caught?
It was not a gentlemanly act to go through someone else's desk--especially not when that person had engaged him to work for her. But even if Mrs. Stillwaters wasn't after the truth, he was.
In the central drawer, among the other letters and memoranda that Mrs. Stillwaters had kept, Frodo found what he was looking for: Camellia's letters tied in a bundle with the same faded scrap of ribbon, just as he had last seen them. His own note to Camellia was still tucked in on top of the pile.
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