Who Is Killing the Brandybucks? by Kathryn Ramage

They parted on the high street in Bucklebury. Pippin went to call on Marleduc and Eliduc at their house, but found they weren't at home.

"The boys went out directly after lunch," their father Emeliadoc informed Pippin apologetically. "You'll most likely find them at the Buckle's Notch. They spend an inordinate amount of time there these days, talking with their friends. I daresay these awful happenings have upset them dreadfully, as they have us all. They're so fond of Ilbie and little Celie, you know. They're out and about at all hours--I scarcely know what they're up to." He smiled. "I wondered if they might be helping Frodo Baggins with his investigation."

When he left Emeliadoc, Pippin went to the Buckle's Notch, and found neither young hobbit there.

Frodo's investigations were of a broader nature. While he was considering Uncle Merry as someone who want to harm members of their family, he must also look at the cadet branch of the Brandybucks. There were dozens of Orgulas's descendants here in Bucklebury and elsewhere in Buckland. Would any of them be so ambitious as to try to eliminate every Brandybuck between him and the Master-ship? It seemed fantastic, but the idea must be explored.

That afternoon, Frodo called on a few of these distant relatives--not because he necessarily suspected any of them, but he wasn't well acquainted with many and wanted a better idea of the people on that branch of the family tree and how they were all connected. By tea-time, he had called on several elderly bachelor gentlehobbits, widows and old maids, not to mention married couples of all ages with children from infants to half-grown boys and girls. He heard quite a lot of family news. Everyone was so sorry about Merimas and pleased to hear that Ilbie was recovering.

He had just left the house of Miss Egella Brandybuck, an elderly lady who lived in one of the smials on the ridge at the top of the hill and knew the genealogy of the entire family from the first Master, when he saw Amarilla Underhaye planting flowers in her front garden a few doors down.

When Amarilla saw him, she smiled and put down her spade. "You look rather tired, Mr. Baggins."

"Investigation is often a tiresome business," he answered. "This is one of those days."

"Then why don't you come in and rest awhile? I was just going to make a pot of tea."

Frodo had already had a cup of tea with Great-aunt Egella, but he accepted the invitation. While the Underhayes weren't relatives, they were also among his list of people to be considered. Amarilla's dislike of Merimas might well be expanded to include other young males of the Brandybuck family. And, at last, he had found a reason to suspect Darco too.

Over tea in the cozy little parlor, Frodo told Amarilla some of what he'd been doing today, although he didn't convey all his thoughts and suspicions. "I hope you can help me with my inquiries," he said.

"I will answer whatever questions you like. I feel it's in my best interests to be honest," she answered frankly, meeting his eyes suddenly over the rim of her teacup before she set it down on the little table between them. "You see, Mr. Baggins, I realize I have reasons to be glad Merimas is gone for Celie's sake, and you suspect me because of that. But I did not strike him, nor Ilbie, and so I have nothing to fear from you."

Frodo couldn't help liking her. During their short acquaintance, he had discovered that he enjoyed talking with her, but all the same, he couldn't help recalling a solemn young herbalist of Minas Tirith he had once also liked and never suspected until it was too late. He supposed he should feel nervous about drinking tea alone with her, but as long as they were drinking from the same pot and he had no milk or sugar, he thought he was safe. After all, this murderer was not a poisoner.

"That's a most sensible attitude to take, Miss Underhaye," he answered as frankly. "I wish more people felt that way. Most of them tend to take it personally, when it's simply an unavoidable part of my work. I don't always like it, but it has to be done if I'm to find the truth."

"Yes, of course. What is it you want to know?"

"When I was here last, you said that Merimas had plenty of reasons to disapprove of you besides your independent style of life. What did you mean? Did he think you were a bad influence on Celie?"

"I'm sure he did, but there was more to it than that. Celie told me about their quarrels. Not all, I suspect, but enough that I was deeply distressed for her. No wife should have to put up with such treatment as she did from him. I told Celie that she and her children could come here and stay with me if Merimas gave her too much trouble. She had other places to go, of course, but they were all on the Brandy Hall property, and she and Merimas wouldn't really be living separately. I wanted to give her a place where she could truly get away from him if she needed it."

"She didn't accept?"

"No. She never spent a night here. I think she was more afraid of being alone--without a husband, I mean, not without the company of family or friends--than of being unhappy with Merimas. All the same, Merimas got wind of my offer. Perhaps Celie herself told him, and he thought I was trying to take her away from him."

"Did he ever speak to you about it?"

"No, but he made it plain I was no longer welcome at their cottage and he tried his best to see that Celie didn't speak to me. But she did. We met at her brother's parties, or she came to call on me here. She wouldn't let him choose her friends for her." Amarilla sounded rather proud of Celie for that.

"I also wanted to ask about your cousin Darco," said Frodo.

She looked very interested. "What did he tell you about me?"

"I didn't speak to him directly," Frodo admitted. "Merry did, and heard Mr. Underhaye's opinions about women in general and you in particular. For all he wanted to marry you, I must say he doesn't sound very fond of you."

"No," Amarilla agreed with a wry little smile. "I believe he once was, but now it's all bitterness. He clings to what he calls love out of pride and stubbornness and a desire to win--as if it were a contest between us! I think he means to frighten me, however he can, into leaving Bucklebury and accepting his protection, but he wouldn't be in the least happy if I did give in. I'd make him as miserable as he'd make me."

"He's suggested that you are in love with Celie."

"Oh, gracious!" Amarilla laughed out loud. "Is that what he's saying? And no doubt that I killed her husband to have her for myself! Darco seems to think that because I dislike the idea of him as a husband, I must despise all males equally. If you've been listening to him, you must think I'm a terrible male-hater."

"I know that's not entirely so," Frodo answered.

"It's not," she confirmed. "There are a number of gentlemen I'm fond of. Your cousin Fredegar Bolger, for example, is pleasant company. He's like you in some ways--intelligent and likes to talk about books. And Dodi and Ilbie are good lads. I don't disapprove of marriage when it's between two people who love each other best in all the world and can't imagine living the rest of their lives apart. I know that that isn't always possible. Some people can't marry the one they love best."

Frodo knew just what, and whom, she was alluding to. "Did Melly tell you that?" he asked. It seemed as if Melly had confided a great deal to her friend, and Frodo wouldn't be surprised to learn that this secret had come out too.

"No, not Melly," Amarilla answered. "There is gossip here in Bucklebury, you know, about you and Master Merry."

"Yes, and elsewhere too, I've heard," said Frodo.

He would have once felt quite shy speaking of this, especially with a lady of relatively slight acquaintance, but he and Merry were talked about. It was an open secret among their family. When he'd been involved with Sam, he'd been at pains to keep the true nature of their relationship a secret for the sake of Sam's reputation more than his own. He would not have his friend subjected to scandal and disgrace because of him. But Merry was already immune to disgrace, and Frodo found he didn't care what people said about him either. His own reputation in this respect meant nothing to him. The whole Shire could know.

"You once told me that your cousin is 'unforgiving' of slights," he resumed his questioning over a second cup of tea. "He bears a grudge against me, because of Val Stillwaters. Is it because you refused to marry him that he won't forgive you?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I have a question for you, Miss Underhaye, and I hope you won't be offended on his behalf."

Amarilla smiled. "Not in the least."

"Could he have taken a grudge against the rest of my family because of my cousin Berry's death?"

She gave the idea serious consideration before she answered, "Darco is certainly capable of feeling such hatred over the death of a friend, but I think that if he were to seek revenge against the surviving Brandybucks, as you're suggesting, he wouldn't strike at Merimas or Ilbie, but the ones he would blame most."

Frodo understood. "The girls: Melly, even Celie."

"And he'd hate Mentha most of all, if he knew the truth." Amarilla glanced up at the portrait of herself over the fireplace. "Mentha was a great painter," she told Frodo. "Her tragedy was that she fell in love with someone who was unworthy of her. For a long time, I believed that she drowned herself in sorrow over Berilac's death, until Melly told me the truth of it." She turned to him. "I can understand why your family has kept it secret, but knowing what really happened has made me see more clearly why my friend did... what she did. It's helped to ease my grief for her."

"I still grieve for Mentha too," Frodo confessed. "I've always thought that if I'd seen the truth sooner, I could have done something to save her. I've had nightmares about that day at the river. I sometimes see her face, the ghastly way she smiled at us, just before she flung herself in. Has Melly told you about that?"

"That she and Master Merry and you were there to see it? Yes. She said you dived into the water after Mentha to try and rescue her, and nearly drowned yourself. I wonder if Darco's opinion of you would be so harsh if he knew."

"He might say I only meant to save her for hanging," Frodo replied, "but I don't believe she would've been. Hanged, I mean. She wasn't herself by then."

"She'd gone mad?"

"She was in great despair, and didn't know what she was doing anymore. I think that our family would've found some way to hush the whole thing up and seen that Mentha was cared for quietly somewhere."

"Kept prisoner, you mean," said Amarilla. "Poor Mentha, Perhaps it's better that it ended as it did."

"I don't believe it has ended yet," Frodo told her. "It's over for Mentha and Berilac. They are at rest, but the story they played a part in is still going on. I can't help feeling that what's happening to the Brandybucks now is connected to them in some way, but I can't quite figure out how."
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