After seeing Fatty, Flora, Dodi, and Isalda off toward Bucklebury Ferry to interview the guests who lived south along the river or on the other side, the other four walked together in the opposite direction, around the northern side of Buck Hill to Bucklebury. There, they parted, Frodo and Melly to call upon their Brandybuck cousins in town, and Merry and Pippin to find Hyacinth Bunce, the Biggs, and the Pebblebrooks.
Marleduc was at home with his father and mother, Emeliadoc and Sirabella Brandybuck, but just about to go out when Frodo and Melly met him at the front door of the smial. The family had heard the news about Ilbie and were stunned and horrified, although they were very much relieved when Melly told them he might yet recover.
"You're looking for the person who did this, aren't you, Frodo?" Marleduc asked quietly while Melly spoke with his parents, who were her aunt and uncle. "You must think it's the same one who killed Merimas. How can I help? I'm very fond of Ilbie, you know. He's one of my dearest friends. I wouldn't see him hurt for the world."
"You might be of help," Frodo answered. "Did you see or hear anything on your way home last night, Marly? We're asking everyone who was at Dodi's and left around the same time as Ilbie went missing. Until he wakes, we've no idea why he left Ivysmial, how he came to be in the yard of the empty cottage, or who might have struck him. You and Celie walked across the fields to the Hall, isn't that right?"
"Yes, you saw us go." Marly thought for a moment, then shook his head. "We didn't see anyone in the fields, except for one or two others walking back from Dodi's, but they were heading away from us. We went into the Hall garden over the stile by the Bucklebury road and I left Celie at the back-parlor door."
"Then you went straight home yourself?"
"Yes. There were some other people walking along the road betwixt the Hall and Bucklebury with me, but they were all folk from the town or the farms on the other side going home after the funeral themselves. No one odd. I saw nobody off the road, but it was growing dark by then and the road's far from where Ilbie was attacked, wasn't it? You said you found him by one of the empty cottages."
"Yes, that's right" said Frodo. "What time did you get home?"
"It was just after dark--six o'clock."
"Were your brother or parents here ahead of you?"
"Mother was home, and Father came in just after me. Eli didn't come until later." Marleduc began to regard Frodo with suspicion, as the true point of these questions dawned on him. "Ask Mother if you like. Father and Uncle Gorby weren't far behind me on the road from the Hall. They were arguing about something or other, but they must've seen me and can tell you so."
"There's no need." It was Eliduc's, not Marleduc's, comings and goings that interested Frodo. It struck him as odd that Eliduc had walked directly to Bucklebury from Ivysmial while his brother had taken a longer route and had walked more slowly with Celie, yet had gotten home first. "But I'd like to know why Eli came in so late. After all, he left Dodi's just after you did."
"How should I know?" Marleduc shrugged. "I suppose he stopped off at the Buckle's Notch for a half-pint before coming home to dinner. I couldn't blame him if he did, could you? It was an awful day for all of us, and Dodi couldn't give us a beer at his house--that would make it a party and everybody would say that was scandalous right after a funeral. As a matter of fact, Eli's there now and I was going to join him. Why don't you come along and you can ask him yourself?"
"Why didn't you go with him?" Melly asked after they'd left the smial and were standing outside the gate, watching Marleduc go down the steep street toward the heart of Bucklebury. "It seems rather early in the day to visit a pub, not even lunch-time, but you wanted to talk to Eliduc too."
"They're probably meeting their friends there, to talk about what's happened."
"Then we why don't we follow? It'd be a good chance to ask them all at once." Her expression brightened. "It's because I'm with you, isn't it?"
This was part of his reason; Frodo didn't want to drag Melly into a public drinking-house, nor did he want to leave her behind unattended.
Melly seemed to perceive this protectiveness without receiving an answer, for she smiled. "For all your unconventional ways, you can be an awfully old-fashioned gentleman sometimes, Frodo! Almost as bad as Merimas about what's proper conduct for a lady. Ladies do occasionally go to pubs, you know. Remember that little chit of a girl Pippin thought he was matched to marry?"
Frodo had to smile in return. "You mean, if somebody tried to start a fight with me, I can count on you to give him a good thumping like Di Took did for Pip?" This made her laugh for the first time since she'd arrived for her brother's funeral. "Have you even been inside a pub, Melly?"
"I've been to the Notch before... once or twice, with Dodi. If you really don't wish me to go, why don't you go on to the Notch alone, catch up with Marly and ask Eliduc your questions? I'll pay a call upon Rilla and have a chat with her. She might tell me what she'd keep from you, and you can meet me there when you're done interrogating the boys."
"Where does Miss Underhaye live?"
"At the top of the hill, in one of those little bungalows." Melly turned and pointed up toward the end of the street, to a row of brightly painted doors of various colors along a ridge just beneath the crest of the hill. "I'll be quite safe with her. I've known Rilla Underhaye for years. And besides, you think it's Marly, or Eli, or both." She turned back to him and lowered her voice to ask, "Do you think they're lying for each other, Frodo? But why?" Melly's eyes were wide. "Why would they want to kill Merimas? For Celie's sake? But why hurt Ilbie too? They've been his friends since they were children."
Frodo shook his head. "I don't know. I've thought of several possible reasons why someone would strike down a lad as harmless as our Ilbie, but I can't say which, if any of them, is true. They mightn't have wished him or anyone else harm at first, but now that they've committed a murder, they'll have to protect themselves now, whatever the cost. That's why I'm afraid we might all be in danger." He didn't voice the other, darker reasons he'd thought of; he wanted Melly to be aware of the danger, but he didn't want to frighten her unnecessarily with the phantoms of his imagination. "It mayn't be Marly and Eliduc. After all, Eliduc may have only stopped off for an ale last night, just as Marly says, and that's why he got home later than his brother. When I ask him, I'll see what tale he tells."
They were about to part, each to their different destinations in opposite directions, when they heard a door slam loudly higher up on the hill. When they looked up, they saw that Darco Underhaye was exiting his cousin's cottage. He shut the garden gate with the same force and rushed at a stiff-legged, swift walking pace down the street toward them. They didn't need to see the expression on his face to guess that there'd been a quarrel.
"Mr. Underhaye-" Frodo tried to speak to him, but Darco only muttered, "Pardon me!" and tugged his hat in a semblance of courtesy at Melly as he went past.
The door opened again; Amarilla stood looking down, watching her cousin go. When her eyes fell on Frodo and Melly, she smiled. "Are you intending to pay me a call?" she asked them.
Frodo changed his mind about going to the Buckle's Notch. He was more interested in finding out what lay behind Darco's anger, especially if it had anything to do with his case, and he didn't want to hear about it second-hand. "If it's not an inconvenient time," he answered.
"Not at all. Come up! I'll give you some tea."
"Eliduc can wait," he told Melly softly. She took his arm, and they went up to Amarilla's house.
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