Neither Pippin nor Di were at first breakfast the next morning. Thain Paladin and his Lady were curious and concerned at their empty seats at the table, but Pim and Peri looked as if they were more aware of what was going on and were anxious to keep it from their parents. After breakfast, when Frodo went out for a walk in the garden, he found the girls in an eagerly chattering group with the ladies from the house next door.
"-and they didn't come in 'til late," Peri was telling her eldest sister and cousins. "Tipsy, I'd say. No wonder they're both still abed. Pimmy and I heard them outside..." She looked up as Frodo approached them. "You did too, didn't you, Frodo? They were practically under your window."
"Yes," he said. "I heard them."
"It must have been midnight, at least."
"You don't think..?" Ada asked breathlessly, then reconsidered and shook her head. "No," she and the other girls agreed in chorus.
"I don't believe they were up to anything improper--not in that sort of way," said Pim. "I rather think Father would be relieved if they were. At least, that would mean that Pippin can take an interest in girls. I'm sure they only went out for a ramble, to talk without Mother hovering over them."
"I wonder if they weren't up to some mischief?" Peri suggested. "Father's had an early visit from the Tookbank High Shirriff this morning."
"Oh, that could be anything," said Pim, "nothing to do with Pippin and Di."
"Perhaps..."
"What do you think of this girl?" Frodo asked them.
"I like her," said Pim. "It shows a wonderful spirit for her to come all this way by herself. I wouldn't have been so brave at her age."
"She's a bit wild, but charming. That's not at all remarkable for a Took," Melly teased. "She's just a little more Tookish than most."
"A little too Tookish for poor Mother!" laughed Peri.
Pearl, who was most like their mother, gave Frodo's question more practical consideration. "Pippin seems to enjoy her company, and I suppose we ought to be glad of that... but I wonder if it isn't because of what Ferdi suggested. The girl is quite boyish. That may be what Aunt Di had in mind when she proposed this odd match. I know that Mother wants someone who will be a steadying influence on our Pippin, not encourage his eccentricities with her own but, after all, they're both very young, still in their 'tweens. They may grow up quite a lot in ten years..."
The errant pair appeared at the mid-morning second breakfast. From long experience of mornings-after, Pippin took only a cup of strong, hot tea with no milk or sugar, and cast a queasy glance at the bacon, eggs, and stewed tomatoes in their warming pans on the sideboard before he sank into his usual seat at the table.
When Paladin came in, he asked, "What's this about your fighting with Tibby Clover at the Bullroarer's Head last night, Pip?"
Pippin lifted bleary, blood-shot eyes to his father. "How d'you know about that?"
"I've made it my business to keep a watch on Tibby, to see that the lad doesn't do too much harm to himself or anyone else. Shirriff Thornbreak has informed me that Tibby was tossed out of the Bullroarer after a tussle with you... and another young Took the pub-keeper didn't recognize." Paladin looked at Di, who sat with her head propped on one hand and her breakfast untouched, then regarded his son incredulously. "Peregrin Took, did you actually take a girl of six-and-twenty to a public drinking-house?
"Don't shout, Father, please?" Pippin pleaded, and put his hands over his ears. "Why shouldn't she go? I see girls at pubs all the time. Besides, I started going to the Bullroarer when I was five-and-twenty."
"But you were in a brawl." Eglantine sounded horrified.
"That wasn't Pippin's fault," said Di. "I asked to go with him, and we were having a perfectly nice time 'til that boy came over and picked a fight. He hit Pippin for no reason, and knocked him onto the floor. I couldn't stand by and let him do that, could I?"
"She jumped up on Tibby's back," Pippin said with a reminiscent grin, "and started pounding on his head 'til he got off of me. Mr. Brundle at the Bullroarer didn't throw us out, exactly, but we were asked to leave after that."
The Tooks were speechless.
"Please don't scold, Uncle Pal, Auntie," said Di. "I've got an awful headache. I'm not used to drinking so much."
"No one is going to scold you, dear," Eglantine said in a softer, carefully restrained voice. "You aren't responsible for this... misadventure. If you aren't feeling well, why don't you go back to your room? You can lie down until luncheon--I hope you'll feel better by then."
"Oh, I hope so too," said the girl, and left the table.
Paladin turned sternly to Pippin. "I want to speak to you, son, in my study, as soon as you've finished your breakfast."
"Yes, Father." Pippin had already finished his tea, and set the empty cup down on the table. "I don't see what you're so upset about," he said as he headed for the door. "You ought to be pleased we're doing things together."
"Diamanta must have lost her wits to propose such a match," said Eglantine after Pippin had gone. "She's entirely the wrong girl for him!"
"But, my dear," said Paladin, "he does seem to like her."
"I know--that's the worst of it!"
A little later, Frodo found Pippin on the top of the hill. Pippin was lying on the grass with his head carefully in the shade of the laurel trees to keep the midday sun out of his eyes.
"You're not in too much trouble over last night's outing, are you?" Frodo asked as he sat down beside his cousin.
Pippin shook his head. "I didn't get yelled at, much, but I had to promise I wouldn't get Di tipsy anymore and we'd stay clear of Tibby Clover--and I'd do that anyway. I don't think Father minds it so much as Mother does. He can't complain. He wants me and Di to get on, and we do."
"Do you, Pip?"
Pippin opened one eye to look at Frodo. "Not like that, really, but it's better'n us not liking each other, isn't it? She understands about me and Merry, so that's all right if he ever comes home. It won't be so bad with her--more like a friend than a wife. And if we never... Well, I'd like a son of my own one day, but if I never have one, there's always Pevvy to be heir to the Thainship."
Frodo had intended to tell Pippin his suspicions about Di, but in light of this, decided not to. Would it make a difference? Whether or not she was the approved-of Diamond Took, perhaps Pippin's parents would realize that it was better that he be reconciled to marrying this incorrigible girl than dragging his heels over a match to someone else.
The distant sound of clattering hooves and creaking wheels made Frodo turn to look over his shoulder: a large, two-pony vehicle was coming down the road toward the Hall.
At the sound, Pippin sat up and shielded his eyes with one hand to look also. "It's a lady's carriage. I wonder if it's Aunt Di."
It was Diamanta, but as the carriage drew up before the Thain's Hall, they could see that she had brought another young girl with her. This one also had distinctly Tookish features, but her hair was not so bright a red and her face was pale and unfreckled.
As the two descended from the carriage, Paladin and Eglantine came out of the front door, and Frodo and Pippin came down the front slope. Diamanta smiled warmly and came forward to clasp her brother and sister-in-law by the forearms and give them each a kiss on the cheek. "Dear Eglantine, Paladin, and especially Peregrin, how delightful to see you! I know how eagerly you've all been awaiting this day. May I present you my niece, Diamond." She gestured to the girl; the girl, a shy, well-behaved little thing, turned pink as she curtsied and offered an inaudible greeting, but didn't dare glance in Pippin's direction. The Tooks stared at her in utter bewilderment.
"Then who-?" Eglantine whirled to look up at the windows on the upper level of the Hall.
"I'll go and fetch her," offered Frodo, and while the dazed Thain and Lady escorted their guests into the drawing room, he went up to the bedrooms and went into Di's room.
She had been sleeping, but woke instantly when he opened the door and blinked at him drowsily. "You again? You're making a bad habit of this bursting into bedrooms, Frodo. It could ruin a lady's reputation. Everybody'll talk."
"They're talking already." He sat down at the foot of the bed. "I want you to tell the truth now. Who are you?"
"We had this all out last night. I'm Di Took. Nobody else."
"Then you are not the only one. As you said, the Tooks have a way of using similar names. Diamanta's arrived, and she has another girl with her who also goes by the name of Di."
"Aunt Di's come already?" The girl sat bolt upright, fully awake now. "Oh, gobby-knobs! I meant to be gone before they got here." She twisted around as if she intended to fly out the window above her bed, but Frodo grabbed her ankle to stop her.
"Before you go, Miss, I think you owe the Tooks an explanation, and an apology." He held onto her in spite of her squirming, knowing that she could "thump" effectively if she truly meant to put up a fight.
Fortunately, the girl's better nature forced her to surrender. "I suppose you're right. They've been awfully sweet to me, even when I misbehaved. Apologies it is."
She lifted her chin and braced herself, and went with Frodo to the drawing room, where Pippin sat beside his mother, regarding their guests in confusion, while his father said, "It's all quite extraordinary, Di. Another girl arrived at the Hall yesterday and told us that she was Diamond-"
As the red-haired girl stepped into the room, Diamanta stared at her in astonishment, then took so deep a breath that she seemed to puff up before she spat out the name one syllable at a time: "Di-an-tha Took! I might have guessed it was you."
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