They went back to the inn. Some of the local lads were already there in the taproom--Haltred and Halftrey, as usual--but they looked up eagerly as Frodo and his companions came in. They seemed to be hoping for some news. Sam went over to chat with his cousins, although he told them nothing important. Merry and Pippin each got a half-pint of ale and started a game of darts between themselves. Frodo took a seat at the table near the entrance to the taproom and waited for the murderers to come in.
Tully Digby came in, and joined the Gamgees. Maisie went over to the bar to have a word with her brother.
When Merry had finished his ale, he put the mug on the bar for Mose to refill, and came over to Frodo's table. "What're you going to do, Frodo?"
"I don't know," Frodo answered honestly. "It's a difficult problem. I'm no officer of the law, not a shirriff nor magistrate. You and Sam have your duties, but you're out of your jurisdiction here. And I'm afraid the local law-" he nodded to indicate Dondo Punbry, who had just entered the room, "it's going to be of much help in this case, I'm simply a private gentleman of the Shire who pries into people's private affairs. It's not my place to arrest anyone or bring judgment against the guilty, only to find the truth."
"Well, you seem pretty certain you've found it this time."
"Yes, I am. All I can see to do next is bring it forth. Perhaps I'll have a better idea of what to do once I've spoken to-"
Silvanus Woodbine came in. He looked startled to see Merry with Frodo, then lifted his eyebrows and observed rather archly, "Ah, Mr. Marshbottom--and Mr. Greenhills too. What a surprise to see you both back in our little town so soon. Didn't you care for the westward lands after all?"
"They were quite nice," said Merry. "We'd finished our business there, that's all." He quickly took himself out of the way, leaving Silvanus to face Frodo alone.
"I've been waiting for you," said Frodo. "Isn't Pandro Applegrove with you?"
"No, but he'll be along shortly. He's usually here every evening."
"Then I'll have to catch him later. I wanted to talk to you both privately, Mr. Woodbine, if you don't mind?"
Silvanus looked curious at this request, but consented. "Of course not, Mr. Baggins. Not at all." They went into the dining room, where they could talk without interruption. As they left the taproom, Sam left his cousins to follow; in spite of Frodo's reassurances, he had to be certain he was safe.
In the dining room, Frodo offered Silvanus a seat at the table and took one himself on the opposite side. Sam stood before the closed door. "I thought you'd be interested to know, Mr. Woodbine," Frodo began. "My work here in Gamwich is nearly done. I've done what I came to do."
"You've found out who hanged Malbo Glossum?"
Frodo nodded. "I've just received some news from a place on the Bounds that confirms all my ideas."
The corner of Silvanus's mouth turned wryly down. "From those two traveling gents, no doubt. Your spies, Mr. Baggins?"
"You've had your spy too," Frodo replied. "It's only fair I have mine. They've been of great help to me in finding out the things no one would tell me. Without their aid, poor Ham Gamgee might still have a shadow of suspicion cast unfairly over him, and I might never have found the truth. I wondered from the first what Malbo Glossum could have done to deserve hanging. Now I know. It was over a girl, as I first guessed, but not simply a girl disgraced. A girl dead, and Malbo was indirectly responsible. Since you and your friends suggested I look in the south, I naturally sent my friends to the north, and they discovered her sad story. She lived in a village called Boundenby. Her name was Feonella Woodbine. What relation was she to you? A cousin, perhaps?"
Silvanus sighed. "My sister."
"I thought you didn't have any sisters," said Sam suspiciously.
"She was never in Gamwich," Silvanus turned to him and explained. "Few people here knew about her. My mother died when I was small and Nella only a baby. My father thought a little girl should be looked after by a woman, and so when we settled here, he left her in the care of his sister in Boundenby. I kept up with her, wrote letters, visited when I could. I still have some property up that way." He turned back to Frodo. "I wish you could've known her, Mr. Baggins. She was sweet, affectionate, quiet in her ways. Innocent as a lamb. She didn't know a thing about boys. I can see why someone like Malbo would be appealing to her. He'd been around the Shire and seen so much. He could tell such stories. I can't blame her for being taken in by him. I was taken in by him myself."
Frodo looked interested. "Were you?" All the stories he'd heard suggested that Malbo was only interested in dalliances with girls, not other boys.
Silvanus understood what he meant, and looked disgusted. "Nothing of that sort, Mr. Baggins! I only meant that he was charming. I could tell he was a scoundrel, but I didn't mind. I enjoyed his company. I thought him fun to go about with, until I learned he was the one who'd killed her."
"Didn't he realize that you were her brother?"
"No, I don't think so. Woodbine isn't so very common a name, but there are a few of us about this part of the Shire, and I never spoke of Nella to him or anyone else."
"And you didn't guess-"
"Of course not! Feonella wrote me once, about this lad she'd met. She didn't dare tell me his name, since she wasn't yet of age and wanted to keep it a secret from our aunt. She was afraid I'd give her away if I knew who he was. She only told me that he was new to Boundenby. She used the initial M--and there are plenty of lads going about the Shire with that letter beginning their names. She told me he promised her marriage, and she believed it. She planned for it--she was so excited and happy. She loved him, and she trusted him completely, and then he betrayed her."
"Did he know about the baby when he left?" asked Frodo.
"I don't know! Does it matter? He lied to her to get what he was after, broke her heart, and left her alone to scandal and shame, and she killed herself rather than face it." He lifted his chin and announced bravely, "If you want me to confess, very well then: I did it. You've caught your murderer at last, Mr. Baggins. If you know what happened to poor Nella, then you know it all. Malbo same as murdered my sister, and her baby too. You've heard that he hadn't changed--he was ready to play the same trick on Pet Applegrove and Tessa Flock and Maisie here at the inn, and who-knows who else. It could happen again, to some other poor girl. It might already have, somewhere else. He had to be stopped. It was only justice to see him hanged for his crime and I'm not sorry I did it."
Frodo nodded sympathetically. "But you didn't act alone," he said.
"Of course I was alone."
"How did you manage it? You walked with Malbo nearly five miles down dark lanes--on a night when the moon set early, by the way--to the ropeyard. He was barely on his feet when he left here. How did you take him so far?"
"I used a cart," said Silvanus. "I left it by the trees near the well across the way until Malbo left the inn. I went out not long before him, and I waited. He was, as you say, nearly falling off his feet. It was no trouble making him lay down in the back, and he slept most of the way."
Frodo pursued this improbability. "So you carted him there, held him upright while you put the noose around his neck, and hauled him up... by yourself, without assistance? I beg your pardon, Mr. Woodbine, but unless you are as strong as three ordinary hobbits, that's not possible. It took three hobbits when we tried it--didn't it, Sam?--and our victim was more cooperative than yours. Who were your assistants? The Applegroves?"
"They have nothing to do with this," Silvanus snapped.
"Oh, but they do. You say you didn't know about Malbo's connection to your sister until recently."
"No. I haven't been to Boundenby since well before my sister's death--I couldn't bear it, even to go for auntie's funeral. I don't believe she ever knew Malbo's name, and then she died not long after poor Nella. The shock of it all killed her." His tone made it obvious that he blamed Malbo for this death too.
"I am sorry," Frodo said sincerely. "Tell me, when did you find out?"
"About two months ago."
"How?"
"It was in a letter from a friend of Nella's in Boundenby," answered Silvanus.
Frodo shook his head. "I don't believe in your letter. You see, I know that Pandro Applegrove was in Boundenby not two months ago. He's been there before, with another hobbit whom I guess to be you."
"So he's been to Boundenby," Silvanus admitted. "What of it? As I've said, I still have property there and won't go myself to see after it. My friend has gone in my place."
"Pandro was asking questions about your sister's death. The bounder there recalls speaking with him about it. He didn't remember Malbo's name, but other people in Boundenby do. Pandro is the one who learned the details of Feonella's death, isn't he? Perhaps you didn't guess about Malbo, but if he knew your sister's story, he might've noticed how similar it was to his own sister's and decided to go and find out. When he learned who it was who seduced and abandoned her, he brought the story back to you, and you learned what sort of hobbit your new friend truly was. That's when you decided to give Malbo the punishment he deserved, and Pandro agreed to help you."
Silvanus didn't answer this, but sat with his lips pressed tightly together.
"Pandro is your friend," Frodo pursued. "I also guess that he knew your sister and had some fondness for her himself." There was no answer to this either, and he plunged on: "And there was one other who helped you. This story of the letter isn't the only lie you've just told, Mr. Woodbine. You didn't leave the Mousehole before Malbo. You were here half an hour or so after he left, and so was Pandro. Dondo Punbry told me so the first night I arrived, thinking to help you--as I'm sure you meant it to when you and he sat here so late on that night. You weren't the ones who got Malbo into the cart. There was a girl in ribbons waiting outside. Maisie thought it was Petula Applegrove, but I'm certain it was actually Pendira. Petula simply doesn't have the nerve for this sort of thing, although I'm sure she knows precisely what went on. Her sister wouldn't be able to leave the farm for half the night without her noticing. You've said yourself that Pendira is the more resourceful and reliable of the two, and she cares for you. Did she know your sister as well? Was she the one who remembered Feonella when Malbo was chasing after her own sister, and sent Pandro to find out? Yes, I think that's more likely. She is the clever one of the family, and rather protective of Petula. The family resemblance is quite strong, by the way. In spite of one being the Plain Sister and the other the Pretty One, their faces do look remarkably alike. It's their clothing and manner that makes the difference. I imagine that if Pendira does her hair up the same way as her sister and puts on one of Petula's frilly dresses, Malbo in his drunkenness wouldn't notice she wasn't Petula and she could lure him wherever she wanted to go. When I speak to her and her brother, I will find out."
"They won't tell you anything--they have nothing to confess. What I did, I did alone," Silvanus insisted. "Guess all you like, Mr. Baggins. As long as I say it was me and only me, you can't prove otherwise. That is just what I'll say, even if I go to hang for it." Then he looked from Frodo to Sam and demanded defiantly, "Will I hang for it? What do you intend to do with me now?"
Sam likewise looked curious; what did Frodo plan to do now?
"I'll have to bring it to the attention of the local authorities," said Frodo. "Mr. Gamgee already knows it all, of course, but he's here as my friend, not as a Chief Shirriff. I will tell Sherriff Punbry what I've learned, and he may proceed as he likes, but I suspect he too knows most of it already. I doubt he'll trouble to arrest you or the Applegroves. After all, he's been your spy and servant from the first."
Silvanus looked more distressed by this than he had when Frodo had mentioned the Applegroves. "Are you accusing Dondo of being in on Malbo's hanging as well?"
"No, I know he wasn't there that night," Frodo answered. "I know where he was, and believe him when he says he didn't hear about Malbo's death until Ham came looking for him the next morning. All I say is that he saw the truth soon afterwards, but not until he'd gone around making his observations about the odd way the rope was tied. He's regretted that since. He would've been happy to call Malbo's death a suicide if he'd understood earlier, but it was already too late. Once Ham Gamgee had written his brother and we were here looking into things, he took care to see you protected. He's kept you informed of every important step in our investigation. So, I will tell him what I know. Even if he tells the Chief Shirriff in Nobottle and you are brought before a magistrate, I doubt you'll hang for this, Mr. Woodbine. You've only to make the same confession that you've just made to me to gain complete sympathy. Hobbits are naturally outraged at tales of dishonored and mistreated girls. I daresay anyone who hears your sister's story will agree that Malbo got what he deserved--isn't that so, Sam?"
"I might do the same if it was one of my sisters," Sam admitted gruffly.
"There you are," Frodo said to Silvanus. "I don't expect there'll be any justice beyond that which has already been dispensed, and what remains in your conscience and those of your friends."
Silvanus had begun to relax. "My conscience is quite comfortable, thank you, Mr. Baggins."
"Is it? I've been thinking about the conversation we had the other day, Mr. Woodbine. Do you remember? About hanging and justice. I've given the question a lot of thought. Was this justice? I really can't say. I don't believe that you and your friends are cold-blooded murderers, but ordinarily decent hobbits in circumstances that have led you to commit a heinous act. Whether or not Malbo deserved it doesn't matter. It isn't an easy thing to play the executioner and take the life of another person. No matter what they've done." He met Silvanus's eyes. "Can you live with what you've done? Right now, you say you can, but I know how being responsible for someone's death can weigh upon you. I've been in that position myself--I wasn't entirely responsible for my actions, and the person whose death I caused was a thoroughly despicable creature who was probably destined for a bad end one way or another--but it still troubles my mind." He glanced up at Sam, who knew who he was referring to; Sam had always been of the opinion that Gollum wanted pushing into a pit of fire long before. "And I've had a hand in the deaths of several murderers since." He turned back to Silvanus. "If your mind is at ease, then you may be right and justice has been served. But if you find in the end that it isn't always so and you can't bear the thought of Malbo's death at your hands, then you can seek your own justice again. If this was murder, we've already seen the punishment you would mete out to a murderer. The noose is no longer hanging where you left it. We took it down today. But there are other ropes and other trees. I leave it up to you."
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