The Wetleafs were ejected from the inn, and after Mr. Butterbur had a word with the town constable, the pair were asked to leave Bree. The troupe had left the Prancing Pony. Even though Butterbur had apologized profusely and insisted that the circus people were welcome to stay on as long as they liked, Mr. Grimmold's feelings had been too hurt by what had happened. He felt his reputation had been sullied and, since he'd made other plans for the circus's travels, he decided to follow them right away. The troupe would camp that night in the Kitswillow field before heading south along the Greenway.
Pim went with them. After giving her cousins kisses in farewell, she briefly took her brother's hand and said, "See you soon, Pip?" Frodo wondered if she'd had enough of adventures, and was planning to return home.
Merry, Pippin, and Frodo would stay on at the inn for one more night, and depart in the morning.
When Frodo came down to dinner in the same little private parlor that evening, he found Pippin seated there. Their eyes met, and his cousin gave him a lop-sided, embarrassed little smile, before quickly averting his gaze. In all the excitement of hunting for the thieves, they had worked together easily and had almost been like their old selves again. Now that things had quieted, they were back to where they'd been when they'd arrived yesterday.
As Frodo sat down at the table and helped himself to the bread and butter that had already been set out, he said, "I want to thank you for your help, Pip. Mr. Grimmold was right--your talents as a pick-pocket were invaluable today, and we mightn't have caught the Wetleafs if it weren't for you. I know that I tend to deputize all my friends and relations when I'm investigating. It is presumptuous of me, but I am grateful."
"But I'm glad to do it," Pippin answered sincerely. "It's great fun, and a chance to help our friends."
"All the same, you'd be justified in telling me to find someone else to do my work, especially under the- ah- circumstances. You've no reason to aid me just because I ask." They'd had few chances to speak without Merry during their journey, and had avoided personal conversations even when the opportunity had arisen, but there were certain things that must be said before they were home. "I'm so sorry, Pippin. Merry and I--it was just something that happened while we were alone together so far from home. I never meant to hurt you, but I wouldn't blame you if you hated me for taking him."
Pippin looked astonished that Frodo could even think such a thing. "I don't hate you! How could I, after all we've been through? But I can't fight you, Frodo." His shoulders slumped with glum acknowledgement of an indisputable fact. "You haven't been well for ages, and you got that way saving the whole world--you're a hero to everybody, or should be if you aren't. Why shouldn't Merry love you? You're smarter than I am, and prettier too. You went all the way to Minas Tirith after him, when I didn't." Tears glimmered in his eyes. "I should've gone with him when he asked me to, but I wouldn't do it. If I lost him, it's my own fault. You didn't take him from me. He's been waiting for his chance at you for so long."
"What do you mean--'waiting for his chance at me'?"
"Merry," Pippin explained. "He's been in love with you for years. Didn't you know? I thought everybody knew that. Isn't it so, Merry?" Merry had come in during this last exchange, and Pippin turned to him to confirm this. "Frodo's always been the one you really loved."
Merry only scowled and answered, "Is that what you think, Pip?"
"Well, it's the truth, isn't it? If you could've got Frodo before, you wouldn't've gone after every other lad in the Shire, including me. Now you've got him, I'm only in the way." Then Pippin rose quickly and left the room.
Frodo stared at Merry. "What Pippin just said--Is it true?"
"I told you so, didn't I?," Merry answered. "I said I would've gone for you if I ever thought you were interested."
"Yes, but I thought you meant the way you played with everybody else. Just a bit of fun. Not that I was... someone special."
Merry rolled his eyes. "Of course you're special, Frodo! You're not like anybody else in the whole world. Certainly not to me."
"Oh." Frodo hadn't guessed. It seemed odd that he should be finding this out only after they'd been lovers for months, but their love-making had always been fun and light-hearted, without the deep emotional intensity he shared with Sam. He never thought that Merry felt more for him.
"But it isn't what Pippin thinks, not exactly," Merry went on. "He's not second-best. It's true, it broke my heart when you went away to live with Uncle Bilbo. I missed you terribly, and for awhile I made up for it with any boy who was willing to play. But I was over the worst by the time Pippin was old enough for that kind of playing. We've got on well, since we were little lads, and he knows how to have fun like nobody else does. And since we went off on our adventures, it turned out to be more than just fun."
"You mean, he's the one you love, not me."
"I love you both, I suppose, in different ways."
"Hadn't you better tell him that?"
"It's best that I don't," said Merry. But after their dinner had been brought in, and Merry sat sulkily over his plate for awhile and didn't eat a bite, he began to reconsider. "Oh, very well," he said as he left his place at the table, "I'll go talk to him. Pip's never missed a meal in his life, and I'd hate for him to sit this one out because of me. You won't mind if I spend tonight with him, Frodo? With all the circus-lads gone, he might feel lonely sleeping in that big room all by himself."
Frodo smiled. "No, I don't mind."
Merry went to Pippin's room just down the hall, but he returned a minute later, carrying a note that his cousin had left. "Pip's gone," he announced, and handed the note to Frodo, who read it aloud:
"I'm sorry--I won't be going back to the Shire with you. Pim has the right idea about taking herself off so Peri and Ferdi can get on together, and I'm doing the same for you. I won't be in your way anymore.
"I'm leaving with the circus. Mr. Grimmold says he'll be glad to have me, and with some work I might be as good a conjurer as he is. I made up my mind to go with them last night and meant to tell you this morning, only there was all this muddle and I didn't know when the circus was going to leave town.
"Please tell Mother and Father I won't be home for awhile. I hope you'll both be happy. All my love, Pippin."
Frodo recalled Mr. Grimmold's and Pippin's conversation at the bar, and Pim's last words to her brother, "See you soon." He realized that, in the midst of his investigation, he had overlooked important clues to something else that was happening much closer to him.
"He can't have gone yet, Merry," he said as he returned the note. "He's only gone out to the field where the circus is camped. They won't leave Bree 'til the morning. You could go after him, catch up."
Merry shook his head. "No. It's what Pippin wants. He'll be happier traveling with them than he was with us." He sat down and laughed suddenly. "I always said that one of the Tooks would run off to join the circus, didn't I? And now two of them have gone! At least, they'll look out for each other." He reached out to take Frodo's hand. "We'll have to do the same."
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