Frodo headed south the next morning under an overcast sky. He'd only gone a few miles when a misty drizzle began to fall, then turned into a heavy and icy rain. Even if he were willing to press on in such weather, he'd promised Sam that he would look after himself on his travels. When he reached to the crossroad that led to Tuckborough, he stopped at the Green Hill inn. While his pony was stabled with a warm blanket and oats, Frodo settled down in the public room with a mug of hot cider to wait out the rain; when it showed no stopping by dusk, he took a room for the night and ordered his dinner.
The inn had one private dining parlor, which the innkeeper was usually happy to provide for Frodo whenever he stopped there. This time, however, the innkeeper apologetically informed him that the dining parlor was engaged by other guests. The only other guests currently staying at the inn appeared to be two children, a boy and girl of about twelve and ten respectively, accompanied by a woman who looked more like a maidservant than their mother. Frodo glimpsed the trio when they emerged from their own room at dinnertime; the children regarded him shyly and the woman curtseyed to him as they went past. Since few local hobbits had ventured out in the bad weather to have their usual half-pint or two, Frodo had the common room largely to himself that evening during his meal, then went to bed.
The next day dawned cold but sunny, and Frodo rode on without further inconvenience. He reached Longbourne two days later.
The village of Longbourne sat on the southern bank of the Shirebourne, which was an unimpressive river when compared to the Brandywine but was deep enough for boats and small barges to navigate up and down its lower courses. When it joined the Brandywine at Longbottom a few miles to the east, the great river widened to mighty proportions. Neighboring farmers and planters brought their crops to Longbourne to be sold and shipped. The place reminded Frodo of Budlingsbank, except the hills in this part of the Shire weren't so high and the chief crop grown here was pipeweed rather than tea.
According to Aunt Dora's letter, her brother Dudo had taken work for a well-to-do farmer near Longbourne. In what capacity, Frodo was unsure: agent, broker, clerk? Whatever work Dudo had done, he must have quickly gained the goodwill of his employer and the affection of at least one member of the Downswater family; he had married the farmer's daughter.
Once in Longbourne, Frodo sought out the eldest inhabitants of the village, for these were the hobbits most likely to remember Dudo Baggins and his wife. He represented his mission as a genealogical one, mentioning his uncle's name and saying with perfect honesty that he was anxious to trace any members of Dudo's family who might still be alive.
After asking at the inn and pubs, Frodo was eventually directed to a prosperous hobbit of about fifty named Mr. Rusk who ran a shipping business from the barge docks.
"It seems as if we're related by marriage, Mr. Baggins!" Mr. Rusk exclaimed once Frodo explained that he was Dudo's nephew. "Imagine that--me related to Frodo Baggins! I never did guess, but it's only the truth. My father and your uncle started this business together after they both married Downswater girls. I can't tell you much about your uncle, since he died when I was just a lad, but Father certainly can."
"Your father's still alive?"
"Eleventy-seven and spry as a cricket in summertime! Come to dine at my house tonight, and I'll introduce you."
When Frodo went to the Rusks' smial just outside Longbourne that evening, Mrs. Rusk was flustered to see that her dinner guest was so fine and famous a gentlehobbit. She seemed somewhat confused at how precisely he was related to her husband, but she and the many little Rusks generously welcomed him into their home. Mr. Rusk then introduced Frodo to his father, who looked as if he had lived every one of his 117 years and enjoyed them all.
The elder Mr. Rusk was delighted to meet Frodo. He'd often heard Dudo Baggins speak of his family in the north. "He told me all about his brother and sister, and all the cousins he had living up in Hobbiton. He always meant to travel back up to see his family again one day. It's a pity you never met your uncle, Mr. Baggins. A fine fellow he was, and I was proud to call him my friend. What do you want to know about him?"
"Tell me everything you remember, please," Frodo requested.
After dinner, Frodo sat by the parlor fire with the old hobbit and listened to stories about his uncle. Mr. Rusk told him how Dudo had first come to the Downwaters farm as a land manager. "It was another Baggins, a cousin of his who owned a pipeweed plantation nearby, who recommended him to Old Downwaters."
"Not Otho Sackville-Baggins?" It surprised Frodo to learn that one of the Sackville-Bagginses would help a member of his family, but this generosity from Otho had occurred years before Bilbo had adopted him. Fifty years ago Otho might have felt stronger family feelings toward his Baggins relatives.
"That's right," confirmed Mr. Rusk. "Dudo had come down from Hobbiton to manage the plantation for his cousin, but they had some sort of disagreement over the way Dudo was managing things. Dudo left the pipeweed business, but he liked living in this part of the Shire so he offered his services to Old Downwaters for the same sort of work. They'd met before that, since the two were neighbors. Old Downwaters was happy to take Dudo on."
"Is that when my uncle met his wife?"
Mr. Rusk chuckled. "I wasn't there to see it, but I'd guess that Dudo had met Eulilla once or twice before too. That was probably the reason he went to her father when he was looking for work. She was a fine, handsome girl in those days. All the Downwaters girls were. That's when I first met Dudo Baggins myself, when he was courting Eulilla and I was courting her sister Fulida. We saw we were going to be brothers-in-law soon and might as well be friends."
The old hobbit spoke with particular pride of how Baggins and Rusk had begun their business by sending their father-in-laws crops off to market by barge, then expanding to include other local farmers' crops and wares. Things had been going successfully for the two partners, when Dudo had died suddenly in 1398. Like his elder brother Drogo, he had drowned, falling off a barge into the Shirebourne.
"What about his family?" Frodo asked. "What became of them? I've been told there was a daughter. She would be a little older than I am now."
"Yes, dear little… now what was her name?" Old Mr. Rusk shook his head.
"Doriella?" Frodo suggested.
Mr. Rusk mumbled over this name, trying it a few times before he answered, "That could be it. Something like it. I recollect that they called her something shorter. A pretty little miss she was, not more than fifteen when her father died. Poor mite. I remember how the tears came into her eyes when I had to go and tell them what'd happened to Dudo. What happened to them? Well, after he was drowned, Eulilla--that was Dudo's wife--said she couldn't bear to look upon the river anymore. She and the little girl went back to live with her family at Downswater farm. No, she isn't there now, Mr. Baggins. I couldn't tell you if she's living or dead. There was a scandal about a year or two after Dudo passed on. Eulilla ran off to marry a shopkeeper."
"A shopkeeper?" echoed Frodo. "But not from around this part of the Shire?" Surely Eulilla's brother-in-law and late husband's business partner wouldn't have lost touch with her if she were still living near Longbourne.
"No, Mr. Baggins. He was from a place called Tinsdale, off in the hills. A greengrocer, he was. He had dealings with the farmers here like Old Downwaters, and he liked to come into Longbourne to see what sort of things were coming in on the barges from up and down the rivers. He was always interested in crops we don't grow around here--grapes, figs, oranges, that big-eared corn you have up in the Eastfarthing, pumpkins. He'd buy all he could fresh off the barge and cart it back to Tinsdale to sell there. We did some business with him, and he first met Eulilla while Dudo was still living. It wouldn't surprise me if he was taken with her even then. She was handsome woman, I've told you. After poor Dudo was dead and Eulilla had gone back to the farm, he called on her there--paying his respects, he said. I heard all I know about what happened then from my wife's brothers and sisters who were living on the farm too. Their father didn't like this greengrocer calling on one of his daughters. After marrying a gent the first time out, he thought Eulilla could do better for a second husband. Well, Eulilla must've felt differently, for she went off with her greengrocer one day and never wrote to her family after that."
Frodo wondered if he ought to go to the Downswater farm tomorrow. Old Farmer Downswater was surely long dead, but perhaps someone currently living at the farm could tell him more about this ancient family scandal. He asked Mr. Rusk, who negated the idea.
"You won't find anybody there, Mr. Baggins. My own dear wife passed on twenty years ago, but my son keeps up with the family since he still has business dealings with them. The last of Old Downswater's children is gone now and buried in the family vault with him and his Missus. There're plenty of young folk out there now, cousin to my boy, but they would've been children at the time, if they'd been born yet at all. I'm the last one left to remember the old days."
"I suppose my aunt and cousin they might still be in Tinsdale. At least, my cousin might be. What was the greengrocer's name?" Frodo asked. Mr. Rusk was his only resource. He had the name of a village, but he needed more information if he was to trace Eulilla's daughter.
"Mugwomp, or something of the sort," the old hobbit replied after thinking about it for a minute. "Moppit… No, no, it was Mossop."
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