Frodo woke the next morning to the sound of a commotion in the hallway outside his room. Several people were talking at once, voices rising, then a number of booted feet headed quickly away to the stairwell at the other end of the hall.
"What's going on now?" he wondered aloud.
Merry grumbled incoherently and turned over to go back to sleep.
Frodo got up and dressed to go and find out. He went downstairs and headed toward the public rooms at the front of the Inn, and ran into Mr. Butterbur and Mr. Grimmold standing at the door to the little man's room, in the midst of an argument; Mr. Grimmold was indignant and the innkeeper apologetic, but firm.
"But we were to stay on here until the end of the week!"
"That's as may be. You can find lodgings elsewhere, but you can't stay here another night. Now I'm sorry, Mr. Grimmold, but I've got my other guests to think of and the reputation of my house. I must ask your people to leave and not come back. Not them Trufoots, at any rate. They aren't welcome here anymore."
When they saw Frodo, both stopped. Mr. Butterbur said, "Good morning, Mr. Baggins. You're up early--What can I get for you?"
"You can tell me what's happening," Frodo answered, looking from one man to the other. "Is there something wrong?"
"Oh, something's wrong, all right!" Mr. Grimmold replied heatedly. "This fool suggests we are thieves!"
"Now I never meant you personally, Mr. Grimmold," Butterbur said. "All the years you've been my guests here at the Pony, I never had complaint of you nor your people before."
"But you've asked the troupe to leave," said Frodo. "Why?"
"I've got to. There's been things taken from three rooms where some of the other guests are staying."
"The people down the hall from us?" Frodo guessed, thinking of the commotion that had awakened him.
"Yes, that's right. All the rooms that've been burgled are up at the top o' the house, over the stables."
"What makes you think the circus folk are responsible?"
"Well, they say their doors were locked when they went to bed, but the windows were open. Nobody could've gotten into those rooms, except by way of a trick," the innkeeper explained.
"We've never been thieves!" Mr. Grimmold protested this accusation. "Of course we play tricks--that's our living--but we never take what isn't freely given."
Frodo could recall one incident that belied that statement, but he also acknowledged that Mr. Grimmold's principles might be flexible enough to make a distinction between stealing the property of other guests at the Inn and borrowing Noddy Ferndingle's farm for the winter without Noddy's knowledge or permission.
"Mr. Baggins!" Mr. Grimmold fixed him with a shrewd and penetrating eye, as if he knew what Frodo was thinking. "I've seen for myself that you're quite the detective. Last night, your cousin Master Merry was telling us all how successful you've been in investigating the death of that lord who was poisoned in Minas Tirith when we were there last winter. The King himself sent for you personally to find the poisoner. I'm no king, even among my own people, but I have to look out for their welfare just the same. If we aren't welcome here any longer, it'll be a great blow to our livelihood. We do our best business in Bree and Dale, and Bree's the only place where the Big and Little Folk can all find a comfortable place to rest. Many of my people have family here. If we get a reputation for disreputable practices, we can't show our faces in this part of the world again. No one will want to see the show. We'll become outcasts. You're interested in seeing things put right, aren't you, Mr. Baggins?" he asked beguilingly. "You wouldn't want to see an injustice done."
"Nobody wants an injustice done," Mr. Butterbur interjected, won over by this persuasive speech.
"Then you won't object if Mr. Baggins looks into this accusation you've falsely laid against us? If anyone can get at the truth of this matter, it is he," Mr. Grimmold said to Butterbur, then turned to Frodo. "You will do it, won't you? I know it's a small problem compared to the great crimes you're used to, but it is extremely important to me and my people that our names are cleared."
Frodo knew what scoundrels and mischief-makers the troupe could be, but he didn't want to see them punished for something they hadn't done. "I'll do this much," he answered. "If Mr. Butterbur has no objection, I'll investigate these thefts and do my best to find the culprits, whether they're your people or someone else."
"Can't say fairer'n that," said Mr. Butterbur. "Give it your best then, Mr. Baggins, and I'll abide by what you find."
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