When he left Shirriff Punbry's hut, Frodo paid a brief visit to the post office on the other side of the town's small market square to see if Rose had forwarded any letters to him or Sam, and considered where to go next. Mrs. Scuttle? Yes. She was just the sort of lady who would require references from her employees. When he came out of the post office, he saw Silvanus Woodbine in the high street; Frodo thought he must have just had a word with Dondo, for the sherriff was standing in the street outside his hut a few yards farther away, smoking his pipe. Both were staring at Frodo.
Silvanus smiled. "Good afternoon to you, Mr. Baggins!"
"And to you, Mr. Woodbine," Frodo replied as they approached each other in the square. "I must say, I'm surprised to see you in town so early in the day. Aren't you needed at your farm?"
"No, it's all well in hand. I had an errand to see to that brought me into town, though I expect I won't ride home again before the evening. The Mousehole has become more exciting than usual these past few days, with so many strangers about. I confess that we're all very curious to as what you'll discover about Malbo's murder next. Dondo Punbry was telling me that you've cast your investigation beyond our neighborhood."
Frodo nodded. "Yes, that's so. I've begun to wonder if the reason for his murder lies in his past. Perhaps you can help? You were his friend. Did you know him before?"
"Before-?"
"Before he came to Gamwich."
"No," said Silvanus. "No, I met him last summer, at the Mousehole, as a matter of fact. I don't know as anyone in Gamwich knew him before he first came here."
"Did he ever talk to you of the places he'd been?"
"A bit." Silvanus gave the question a minute's thought, then cited the names of a few westward towns, some of which Frodo had heard mentioned before, others new.
"Not Michel Delving?" he asked when Silvanus had finished. "I understand you've been so far yourself."
"Once or twice, for the pony-races. We have our own little races with our ponies from time to time when they aren't needed for farm-work, but nothing so grand as they have there."
"Malbo never went with you?"
"No, I haven't traveled that way since before he came to Gamwich, although we spoke of his accompanying me this summer." Silvanus eyed Frodo. "Are you a pony-fancier yourself, Mr. Baggins?"
"I've been to Michel Delving for the races a few times. My cousin, Milo Burrows, and another cousin-by-marriage, Lad Whitfoot, the Mayor's son, own a rather famous black-and-white pony. Family feeling's taken me out to see it run."
"I know that pony!" Silvanus said with keen appreciation. "He's won me a nice wager or two, but I can't say I'm acquainted with his owners. I've never met them, not to my knowledge. Though I feel sure I've seen those two young gents who are currently stopping at the inn. Fair and ginger heads like that tend to stand out in a crowd. You must've noticed them yourself?"
He said this last with some meaning, as if he were probing for a response; Frodo said, "Yes, I suppose so. They do tend to stand out," and hastily changed the subject. "Do you object to a somewhat personal question, Mr. Woodbine?"
"You were asking rather personal questions about me and the Applegrove girls last night," Silvanus reminded him.
"Oh, this isn't as personal as that. Hamson Gamgee is also a friend of yours--he's the one you and the other lads have been trying to protect with your silence, isn't that so? You all knew about his brawl with Malbo and didn't want me to find out."
"Dondo said you'd asked him about it," was all Silvanus said in reply.
"Were you there when it happened?"
Silvanus nodded. "We heard a rumpus in the stableyard and went to see what was going on. Mos Bloomer was already there to break it up. He tossed Malbo out, and Ham went his own way soon after. Nobody said, but with the way Maisie and her brother were behaving, I could guess what it all was about. Malbo never did believe there was a girl in the Shire who could say No to him."
"And when you heard that Malbo was found dead in the Gamgees' ropeyard, did you think Ham had killed him?" Frodo pressed.
"Not at all! I knew Ham was innocent of all but defending a lady's honor, but Pan and the other lads and I discussed the matter when we heard you were coming, and we agreed that we didn't know what you'd think of it. It seemed safer to keep our mouths closed. If I may ask you a question, Mr. Baggins--who told you about the fight?"
"Ham told his brother," Frodo answered, not entirely truthfully, but he didn't want to give his cousins away. He might still need their aid before this case had finished. "As a matter of fact, now that I've heard his story, I believe it. His friends' attempts to shield him have only confused matters, and made it harder for me to find the truth."
"We meant well, Mr. Baggins." Silvanus regarded him levelly for a moment, then said, "There's nothing wrong with protecting your friends. You'd do the same, wouldn't you?"
"Not if I knew they were guilty of a terrible crime."
"Even if it came to hanging? You'd have to be very sure they were guilty, and deserved to die for what they'd done."
"Yes, but it doesn't always come to that," said Frodo. "Only one murderer I've helped to catch was officially taken before a magistrate and hanged for his crime." He'd been fortunate in that respect--if 'fortunate' was the word for it: two murderers had fled and escaped; one had been killed by someone else; three had committed suicide when they were found out. "If someone I were fond of had committed murder--and it has happened, Mr. Woodbine--I'd do my best to see that he or she was fairly treated and the circumstances that led them to do it were taken into consideration. Not all murderers deserve to be hanged. They might've acted out of madness, for example, and are to be pitied. But I won't flinch from seeking justice simply out of favoritism."
"I'm glad to hear that you believe in justice, Mr. Baggins," replied Silvanus. "Though, if I may say, I'm relieved that none of my friends has done nothing so wrong as to come under your eyes. Thank goodness Ham is safe."
When they parted, Frodo walked to Mrs. Scuttle's residence. The elderly lady was more polite to him this time, and even expressed some disappointment that Sam hadn't come with him. "You must bring my nephew along the next time you call upon me, Mr. Baggins--I insist. I can't say I'm grieved at the death of that scoundrel Malbo, but after you've been to me so often with your questions, I admit I'm curious to learn who could have murdered him. Promise you'll come and tell me when all this is finished?"
She gave him a few more names of places and people Malbo had claimed he'd worked for when she had hired him. "Though goodness knows he may have lied about every one of them!"
As he returned down the lane into town, a girl was standing at the crossroad with the little lane that led to the Flock bungalow. She wore a crocheted shawl over her head and was stooping slightly as if to hide herself below the hedgerow; when Frodo drew near, she stepped out into the middle of the lane to intercept him.
"Mr. Baggins?"
Frodo stopped. "Yes, that's right. Are you waiting for me?"
She nodded. "My brother didn't want me speaking to you, but I saw you go by awhile ago and knew you'd come back this way." She stood a little taller and peeked back over her shoulder at the hummock of the Flock bungalow, the top of which was barely visible.
"You're Tessa?"
She nodded again. "You're looking to find out who killed Malbo. You don't think it's me, do you?"
"No, Miss Flock," Frodo answered, although one of this theories was that her brother might have killed Malbo for her sake and had tried to keep her from him to ensure that she wouldn't speak of it. "I realize that you had every reason to wish him to live."
"That's true," Tessa said, and blushed beneath the shawl that covered her head; Frodo could see little of her face beyond the large, dark eyes and the tip of her nose.
"Tell me," he requested, "did you have a chance to tell Malbo about your... ah- trouble before his death?"
She shook her head. "I didn't tell nobody. I wasn't sure yet, and then it was too late. I'm sorry he's gone," she said, and her dark eyes glimmered with tears. "I know everybody's saying he was a wrong-un. He got me chucked out at Mrs. Scuttles' and left me in trouble and mightn't've married me anyway, but all the same..." She didn't say more, but Frodo knew that in spite of his faults and the consequences of their affair, Malbo had given her more fun and excitement that she'd ever had before in her life. Aside from Mr. Holeman, she seemed to be the only person who felt any sorrow at Malbo's death.
"What will become of you now, Miss Flock?" he asked her. "Will you be all right?"
"I expect so," she answered after she had blotted her eyes on the fringe of her shawl. "My family'll look out for me. They say as if I can't get a husband to make things proper before the baby's born, they'll take care of it as their own, and if I don't want to stay on in Gamwich, I might go somewhere else and take work where they don't know of me and my disgrace."
"Where would you go?"
"I dunno. The Applegroves--Miss Pendy and Miss Pet--say they'll help. They got family all about this part o' the Shire, and they'll see I get a good place wherever I want. They've been awful tore up about my troubles, Mr. Baggins, same as if I was kin o' theirs."
Remembering what Pendira had said about her sister, Frodo thought he understood why they were extending their kindness to this unfortunate girl. He had asked everyone else; he might as well as her. "There's one thing I'd like to ask you about Malbo, Miss Flock. Did you ever talk about where he'd been before he came to Gamwich? Did he ever mention... other girls?"
"He didn't mention no girls," Tessa said with another shake of her head, "though I expect there was others before me. There was others here too. He said as how he was brought up by an awful old uncle someplace, and how he'd worked a lot of farms all about. He once told me about places he'd been that were right on the very edge of the Bounds, and how he'd go over into what wasn't the Shire anymore, but outside." She seemed impressed that one could actually go beyond the Shire's borders.
"Did he tell you the name of this place?"
"No... only I gathered that it was up to the north somewheres. Malbo didn't like to talk much of where he'd been. He said it didn't matter."
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