After leaving Celie in front of Brandy Hall and arranging with Bramblebanks, the Hall porter, to have her belongings carried in, Frodo took the pony and cart to the stable. As he came out, he met Merry, who was returning from the Brandybuck family vault, which lay on the northern edge of the property some distance from the house.
Merry waved to draw Frodo's attention as he came toward him across the lawn, and they walked together on the path along the river under the willow trees that grew on the bank. "The vault is unlocked and I've seen for myself that there's a shelf cleared to lay Merimas down upon tomorrow," said Merry. "The trestle for his bier is set before the door. I hope it won't rain. A funeral's sad enough--making everybody stand out in the rain for it only makes it more miserable for them. Find out anything today, Frodo?"
"The sherriffs have gathered an impressive number of rocks from near the Hedge where Merimas was found," Frodo reported, "and I've had an interesting conversation with Celie." He would not tell even Merry everything Celie had told him--he considered Merimas's accusations regarding her and Berry to be completely confidential--but there was one particular point which Merry might help to clear up, as Celie herself had suggested.
When he asked about Marleduc, Merry laughed and said, "If she meant that I once played about with him, yes, I did. But that doesn't prove anything. I don't know how Marly feels about Celie, but there's no reason why he couldn't be in love with her or some other girl because we once had a bit of fun together. There's hardly a boy-cousin in Buckland between the ages of thirty and forty I couldn't say the same of. Nearly every one of those lads has since fallen in love with some nice girl or other and married her. Why should Marly be different? It's something everybody outgrows, except for you and me." He put an arm around Frodo as they walked.
"And Pippin?"
Merry didn't respond to this, but asked, "Did I ever tell you who the first one was, Frodo? It'll surprise you."
"No, you didn't say." Frodo knew this was a diversion, but he was willing to play along. "You once told me you were five-and-twenty. Therefore, it can't have been Pippin, nor Dodi or Ilbie. They were still children at that time, and anyway they wouldn't surprise me. Fatty?" he guessed. "Ferdi Took? Ev, or Reg? Not Merimas. It wasn't a girl, was it?"
Merry shook his head and laughed. "You'll never guess, so I'll tell you. It was Berry."
"Berry!" Frodo yelped, as astonished as Merry had predicted. "But you could never stand each other! And Berilac always liked girls--he was too keen on them, actually." Before his death, Berilac had gained a reputation among the maid-servants at Brandy Hall as being a gentlehobbit to beware of, and in addition to being involved scandalously with Celie, he had betrothed himself to Mentha and then tried to accost her sister Melilot. "I must say, he seems to have got around more than I ever imagined when he was alive."
"He overcame his natural inclinations for once," Merry answered. "He probably thought it was what his father would want. Uncle Merry was always pushing him to get into my good graces, you remember--to come between you and me in any way he could. So when I invited him to go off into the bushes by the boathouse with me, he went. I suppose he thought he might as well try this way, only it didn't work any better for him than anything else."
Frodo had to laugh. "Merry, you're truly awful! The naughtiest hobbit I know. Does Uncle Merry know about this?"
"He's never said a word, but it wouldn't surprise me if Berry darted right off and told him. Uncle Merry started telling Father about how wild I was around that same time, but he might've heard how I was carrying on with other boys just as easily. I didn't wait to find a second boy, or a third or forth, once I found out how much fun it could be."
They could hear a distant clip-clop of hooves approaching, and as they emerged from the shelter of the willows before Brandy Hall, they saw a small pony-trap bearing two hobbits coming up the road from Bucklebury Ferry.
"More guests," said Merry. "Others have come already. Fatty and Flora are here. This will probably be some of the Tooks-" He stopped suddenly and an odd look came over his face.
Frodo stared at his cousin and lay a hand on his arm, then turned to look again at the pony-trap, which had drawn closer--and he understood. The new arrivals were Melly and Pippin.
"You knew he was home," Frodo said softly.
"Yes, but I didn't know he was coming here." As the trap drew up in front of the Hall, they walked out swiftly to meet it.
The pony stopped before the middle front door. Pippin climbed down first and handed Melly out of the trap. While she came forward to give Merry and Frodo each a fierce hug, Pippin hung shyly back.
"I've come for my brother's funeral," Melly announced, "but I expect to stay on for awhile. I want to be with my family... while I still have one. There seem to be fewer Brandybucks every year." She turned back to Pippin. "Pip, will you give me little Addy? I want to introduce him to his uncles."
Pippin nodded and carefully lifted up the long-handled basket that had been wedged onto the seat between them; from it, Melly lifted out her baby, who was six months old. "This is Aderic," she said as she presented him. "You haven't been to Tuckborough to see him yet, but I've been looking so forward to your meeting him. Would you like to hold him?"
Frodo was always nervous with new babies, but he had held enough infants before--his niece Willa, Celie's little boys, Elanor Gamgee--that he didn't protest when Melly placed her baby in his arms. "He looks more like you than Evvy," he told her, "except for the eyes."
Melly smiled. "They're blue. Everybody says they'll change and get darker as he gets older, but I hope they won't. Otherwise, I'd say he takes more after the Brandybuck side than the Tooks." When little Addy began to fuss, Frodo returned the baby to its mother. "After I take him up to the nursery, I'm going to find my mother," Melly said as she put Addy back into the basket. "Do you know where she is?"
"Aunt Melisaunte was in the drawing room with Mother, Estella, and the aunties when I went out," Merry told her. "I expect they're still there."
"Celie will probably be with them," Frodo added. "I brought her back from the cottage with her belongings."
"Poor girl," murmured Melly. "You must be looking into this, Frodo. You don't think Celie is involved, do you?"
"No, I don't believe she is," Frodo answered. That was the most he could say honestly; Merimas had probably been killed for Celie's sake, but whether or not she knew who had done it remained to be seen.
Melly did not catch this careful nuance. "Well, thank goodness for that!" she said. "I hate it when you go around suspecting all your relations."
"It's not Frodo's most endearing trait," Pippin agreed. "We're lucky we were fifty miles away when this murder happened."
After Melly had gone into the Hall, bearing the baby in its basket, the three others remained, all feeling a little awkward and tense. Frodo and Merry hadn't seen Pippin or had a word from him since he'd left them to join the circus at Bree, and their parting on that day had been a painful one.
"We didn't expect you to come back to the Shire so soon, Pip," Merry said with an ease he obviously didn't feel. "What happened?"
"I got as far as Edoras," Pippin answered. "The Riders found us when we went through the gap, and took us to King Eomer. I introduced the troupe, and they had a command performance right there. Everybody loved the white pony's tricks, just as I knew they would. We stayed there for awhile, and then Eomer had his Men escort the troupe down the road toward Gondor. I didn't want to go back to Minas Tirith with them, so I turned around and came home."
"Wasn't it any fun?" asked Frodo.
"Oh, no, it was great fun. Mr. Grimmold taught Pimmy and me all sorts of wonderful tricks--wait 'til you see--and said I had a bright future as a conjurer if I wanted to take it up professionally. It was nice being among people who thought I could do something well." Pippin ducked his head and admitted, "But the truth is, I was homesick. I'd been so long away already and I missed you, both of you." He looked from Frodo to Merry. "I wanted to come back."
"We missed you too," said Frodo, and gave him a hug.
Merry was more reserved, but he admitted, "It's good to have you home, Pip."
The Brandybucks were delighted to welcome Melly and to see her baby, but somewhat surprised that Pippin had accompanied her, since many of them hadn't heard of his return to Tuckborough. Even those who did know were uncertain what to make of his unexpected arrival at Brandy Hall. Were he and Merry intending to resume their scandalous relationship? Over dinner, the aunties and Uncle Merimac watched the pair, glancing from one boy to the other for an answer to this crucial question.
"I'm terribly sorry about Merimas dying, but I'm here mainly to help Frodo out find out who killed him," Pippin explained his presence between mouthfuls of roast and potatoes. "I've always been there to helped him solve murders before and I didn't want to miss out on this one, since it's in the family."
"Why don't you come and stay with me at Crickhollow?" offered Frodo. "There isn't another bed, but the sofa in the sitting room is quite comfortable."
"Nonsense," said Merry. "Pippin will stay here. We've plenty of beds, and all the guest rooms are prepared. Bramblebanks can give you one of them, Pip. The room that used to be Berry's is empty, isn't it?
This created greater confusion: there were other, empty rooms nearer to the Master suite if Merry meant to have Pippin close by. Was he deliberately trying to keep his distance, or was this merely an attempt at discretion?
Pippin wasn't confused by Merry's intentions. Nevertheless, he replied cheerfully, "Oh, I'll sleep wherever you like. Any old bed will do for me," then he helped himself to more potatoes.
Some Brandybucks correctly divined the true situation between the pair, while others remained puzzled. Lady Esmeralda understood. "Poor Pippin," she murmured to Frodo as they exited the dining room. "He cares for Merry as much as he ever did, but Merry's made it plain he doesn't wish to carry as they used to. Pippin has my sympathies, but I believe it's for the best. They couldn't go on with their wild old ways now that Merry is Master. And there's you now, too. I'd hate to see you hurt, dear Frodo." As she paused outside the drawing room door, Esmeralda looked puzzled; the young lads had not gone into the study, but were headed up the main tunnel in the opposite direction. More curious still, their wives, plus Melly and Celie were accompanying them. "Aren't you joining us?"
"Not yet, Aunt Esme," answered Frodo. "We're going to have a council first."
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