The Case of the Long-Lost Cousin by Kathryn Ramage

Early the next morning, Frodo set out on the long ride north. Within three days, he was back at the Greenhill Inn. He immediately spoke to the innkeeper there, and was relieved to learn that the woman with the young boy and girl hadn't departed. What was their name? Burbage, said the innkeeper; that was the name another woman with the party had given him when they'd first arrived. She was now gone.
Since it was late in the afternoon, Frodo waited until the trio emerged for their evening meal, then intercepted them in the corridor outside the dining room.

"Are you Miss Burbage?" he asked the woman, although he was certain that she was not. She was much older than the woman posing as his cousin and, as he had noted when he'd glimpsed her last week, her apron and deferential manner indicated that she was more likely to be a maidservant than a member of the family.

"No, sir," she answered, and gave him a curtsey. "My name's Mrs. Odlum."

"But you are employed by her?"

"Not 'employed' as such, sir. I was cook to old Mr. and Mrs. Burbage, and kept up with Miss Marda and her brother. She asked me to come along with her and look after the little uns here while she was off in Hobbiton."

"Do you expect her to return soon?" asked Frodo.

"Aunt Marda said she'd come back to fetch us," the little girl informed Frodo. She was a thin and wan-looking child with mousy curls and a turned-up nose, and had been regarding him with frank curiosity since he'd first spoken. Her brother, also mousy but taller and more plump, was a little more shy.

"She's been gone awhile now," Mrs. Odlum answered the question. "It's been near two weeks. But Miss Marda told me she had some business to tend to with some rich relations up Hobbiton-way. I was to wait for word from her, or else she'd come for us, just as Miss Eudora says. She left me some money to pay for our room here, and to see the little lad 'n' lass had enough to eat." She clutched her apron and appeared anxious as she spoke; Frodo guessed that she hadn't heard from Marda Burbage since they'd been left at the inn and was beginning to worry. "And who're you, sir?" she asked. "Are you a friend o' hers? She didn't send you here after us."

"No, she doesn't know I'm here. But it's quite all right--I'm the children's uncle." Frodo smiled at them, and received a smile from Eudora in return. "I think it's time they met some of their other relatives in Hobbiton."




Sam was caught by surprise when Frodo returned unexpectedly to Bag End late the next morning, bringing a middle-aged woman and two young children with him. "I got your letter the day before yesterday," he said as Frodo ushered the group into the front sitting room. "You didn't say you'd be bringing company."

"I didn't know I would be," Frodo answered. "I'm sorry, Sam. There wasn't time to write and tell you. We would arrive before the next post."

"Who're they?"

"My cousin's children. Sam, may I present Master Eudo Burbage, and his sister, Miss Eudora. And this is Mrs. Odlum, who's been looking after them. Mrs. Odlum, children, this is my dear friend, Mr. Gamgee."

The children had grown less shy of Frodo after learning that he was a relative of their mother's, and he had made special efforts to befriend them since. Now, in a strange place and meeting new people, they were timid and wary again. They'd been brought up with sufficient manners to mumble the usual courtesies to Sam at being introduced, but their primary interest was in their surroundings and the even younger pair of children, Elanor and little Frodo, who had come into the room to see what was going on.

"Are you our cousins?" Eudo asked them.

"You said we had cousins, Uncle Frodo," his sister added.

"These are Mr. Gamgee's children," Frodo replied. "You'll be meeting your cousins later today. Remember what I told you about them over dinner last night? They're around your own age. Myrtle Burrows is thirteen, and her brother Minto is ten. There are two older boys too, Mosco and Moro."

After being away for over a week, Frodo would've liked to greet Sam with a hug and kiss, but there were children and servants all around and, in the midst of all this commotion, Sam didn't appear to be in a kissing mood. Kisses would have to wait; there was a great deal that must be done today. Arrangements and explanations must come first.

Frodo began by speaking to the nursery-maid, who had come after Elanor and his namesake with one of the twins on her hip. "Fern, we'll need to find beds for our visitors. Can you and Hazel see that the little room on the other side of the nursery and the guest room just across the hall are made ready for them? Nellie my love, will you be a dear and show Eudo and Eudora your nursery? They can leave their things there for now and wash up before lunch." Meals were the next matter to be addressed. "Mrs. Parmiggen," he turned to the cook, who was peeking in from the kitchen, "you see that I'm back and have brought guests. Can you manage four more for luncheon on such brief notice? Wonderful! And I must warn you that I plan to invite several of my relatives to Bag End this afternoon for tea. Mrs. Odlum, if you'll please go into the kitchen, I'm sure Mrs. Parmiggen will be happy to give you a nice, hot cup of tea right now."

Sam looked even more bewildered by Frodo's instructions to the servants, but he had grasped the essential point. "How long're they staying with us?" he asked once the children had been taken to the nursery and Mrs. Odlum had joined Mrs. Parmiggen in the kitchen with an offer to give a hand with the upcoming meals.

"Mrs. Odlum will only be with us for a day or two. She's eager to return to her own home and family in Burridge, and I've promised to send her as soon as things are settled for the children. She only came as far north as Green Hill as a favor to her old friend, Miss Burbage."

"Now who's Miss Burbage? Not that cousin of yours?"

"No," said Frodo. "Not my cousin. It's rather more complicated than that, Sam." He sat down at the sitting-room table.

Sam took a seat near him and leaned close so that the women in the kitchen would not overhear. "Are we taking those little uns in, Frodo?" he asked quietly.

"For tonight, at least," Frodo answered in a matching undertone. "I must talk the matter over with the other Bagginses before we can make more permanent arrangements for them. That woman who calls herself my cousin is no cousin. I traced the true Doriella Baggins to Burridge, as I wrote you in my letter. She died just a month ago, and her husband too. Those children have lost both their parents very suddenly and tragically, Sam. I know what they must be feeling. I was just Eudo's age, you know."

Sam nodded sympathetically, thinking not only of Frodo's parents, but of his own motherless children.

"At least I had the Brandybucks to look after me," Frodo continued. "As far as I could discover, Eudora and Eudo have no near relations in Burridge, except for their aunt--a woman whom I feel sure does not have their best interests at heart. They are my first cousins once removed, exactly the same as Milo's children. I don't know them as well as the Burrowses, but I feel a family responsibility toward them. I realize that it's no easy task taking up the care, education--and feeding!--of two orphaned children, but it must be done. Once I explain things to my family, I'm certain they'll feel as I do. They'll be so pleased to hear that the woman claiming to be Doriella Baggins is a fraud that they'll feel quite generous to the real Doriella's children. If we don't give Eudo and Eudora a home here, they'll find one at the Old Place, or perhaps Ponto and Golda will take them in. We'll settle things this afternoon, when everyone comes to tea. Is Angelica still here? We must invite her, and 'Miss Baggins' too."
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