Ten-year-old Myrtle Burrows, Milo's and Peony's daughter, was playing in the garden with the Chubbs's two little girls, Florinda and Dolinda. As Sam and Frodo came in through the gate, the trio burst into shrieks and giggles and scurried off around to the back of the smial.
"Nel'll be like that in a few years," Sam said. "All giggles. There's naught sillier'n a bunch o' little girls. At least, they aren't so troublesome as little boys."
Frodo went up to knock on the door. Ruby Chubb, Will's mother, answered.
"Wilcome is here, Frodo," she replied once Frodo had explained what he and Sam had come for. "We've kept him indoors today, as punishment. I must tell you, I was astounded when Shirriff Smallburrows told us yesterday what he and Sancho had done. Those boys have really gone too far this time! They might've hurt someone."
"Can we talk with him, please, Mrs. Chubb?" Sam requested.
"Yes, do come in. I'll get him for you. He's been sulking in his room since lunchtime," said Ruby as she stepped back from the open door. "Perhaps you can make him see sense. Whenever his father and I try to tell him how terrible this is, he only says he hasn't done anything! Really, what can be done in the face of such lies? We're in despair of him. Shirriff Gamgee, can't you threaten to throw him into gaol for awhile until he learns to behave?"
Ruby left her guests in the front sitting-room and went to retrieve her son. She returned a minute later, alone, and announced, "He's gone! I'm sure he never passed his bedroom door--he must've climbed out the window. Oh, is there no end to his naughtiness? He will end up locked away in gaol one day, I'm sure of it!"
They went outside, Ruby lamenting over her wayward son's future while Sam listened and clucked his tongue sympathetically. From the trampled flowers and stamp of old footprints in the dirt beneath Will's window, it was obvious to Frodo that the boy regularly used it as an exit and entrance. But there was no sign of Will, nor how long ago he had gone.
"Uncle Frodo?" a softly shy voice spoke behind him and he felt a tug on his coat-tail. Frodo turned to find that the three little girls had drawn closer. Florinda, Ruby's elder daughter, was standing at his heels and looking up at him.
"What is it, Florrie?" he asked.
"We saw Will go out--didn't we?" She looked to the other two girls; Myrtle and Dolinda nodded in agreement.
"Did you see where he went, Miss?" asked Sam.
Florinda nodded. "I know... but Mama says I mustn't tattle-tell."
"This is different, dear," said her mother. "This is tattling in a good cause. You tell Shirriff Gamgee where your brother's gone."
"Sancho came up to his window about an hour ago," the little girl reported with a air of bearing great news, "and Will climbed out."
"They went off that-a-way," Myrtle added, pointing southward in the direction of the Hill and Hobbiton. "They must be going over to Sancho's."
The information was appreciated, but the Proudfoot house was where Frodo and Sam already intended to go next.
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