Mrs. Edda Scuttle was no blood relation to the Gamgees, but had once been married to Sam's mother's uncle. Since his mother had parted from her family when she married Ham Gamgee and went away to live in Hobbiton, Sam only became acquainted with this fractious old lady in the final years of her life, when the course of his investigations with Frodo brought them to the town of Gamwich. From their first meeting, Sam had been under the impression that Mrs. Scuttle didn't like him; she never troubled to conceal her opinion that her niece Bell had married beneath her by choosing a simple gardener for a husband.
It therefore came as a surprise when Mrs. Scuttle's man-of-business, Ramson Leekey, wrote Sam to inform him that the old lady was very ill and not expected to live much longer. She wanted him to come. "If you are not able to see her before she dies," Mr. Leekey had written, "she wishes you to know that you will be interested in her will."
How could he refuse? Even if he had no expectations of an inheritance, Sam felt it would be unkind to ignore the old lady's last request.
Gamwich was more than eighty miles from Hobbiton, a two-day journey. Even though Sam left Bag End the morning after receiving Mr. Leekey's letter and traveled without undue delay, he didn't arrived in time to see Mrs. Scuttle alive. He reached his great-aunt's house only to find it locked up with swaths of black cloth draped above the front door. It was now late afternoon and since there was no one around to answer his questions, Sam decided to go to the Mousehole Inn at the heart of Gamwich to take a room, order some dinner, and hear the local news.
Mr. Bloomer, the innkeeper at the Mousehole, remembered Sam well from his previous visits to the town and greeted him warmly. They were kinsmen now, since Sam's eldest brother had married the innkeeper's daughter Maisie. After expressing his sympathies, he informed Sam that Mrs. Scuttle had passed away the night before last, and that her funeral would be held the following day. "So you're just in time for that, Mr. Gamgee. And I'm sure your aunt'll be happy to know you've come."
"My aunt?" Sam repeated, not understanding. Surely she was past being happy about anything.
"That's right--she's been here the last couple o' days. Your brother Ham's been to see her, but nobody knew if you was going to come."
Mr. Bloomer surely couldn't be referring to the late Mrs. Scuttle. There was only one other woman Sam could rightfully call Aunt--his mother's sister, Lula Tredgold. "You mean, Aunt Lula? She's here at the Mousehole?"
"In her room, which'll be next to yours," Mr. Bloomer answered as he gave Sam the key. "She's been here a couple o' days now and's been taking the private dining-room, but I expect she won't mind sharing with you."
Aunt Lula didn't mind at all. When Sam knocked on the door a few minutes later, it was answered by a woman not far past eighty, with more gray in her fair hair and more lines on her round and cheerful face than there'd been when he'd last seen her. "Hullo, Auntie."
"Why, Sam!" she exclaimed as she embraced him, surprised and delighted to find him standing there. "So she sent for you too!"
For Lula was also an astonished recipient of the old lady's final bequests. "I hadn't seen Aunt Edda but the once since I was a girl and ran off to marry Fenrod," she told Sam over dinner. "I came back for my uncle's funeral, and she hardly spoke a word to me then, `cept to say she was surprised I dared show my face. An unforgiving woman, I would've said, but I suppose she meant to be reconciled, since she troubled to send for me when she knew she was near her end. I went to see her the night I arrived, but she wasn't awake. So I sat and held her hand 'til she breathed her last breath and started to grow cold. She never knew I was there, and I never heard what she wanted to say. But Mr. Leekey--have you met him yet, Sam-lad?" Sam shook his head. "Well, he was there, to see to shutting things up. He gave me the keys to her house."
"Did she leave it to you?" asked Sam.
"I expect so, though we won't hear what she put down in her will 'til tomorrow. Aunt Edda had no-one else. She'd no children of her own, and your poor mother's passed on. Maybe this was her way of making amends to me and Bell at the last. Well, I won't put myself forward and move myself in `til Mr. Leekey reads the will out after the funeral and we know what's what." Lula smiled at her nephew and asked after his own children and his sisters' families. She'd been very sorry to hear about the death of his wife.
"It's been more'n a year now," Sam replied. "Thing is, whenever I think I'm past the worst, something comes up to remind me of Rosie and I feel how I lost her all over again."
Lula took his hand. "I know, my dear," she said sympathetically. "It was just the same for me when Fenny passed on. At least we had no children to think of. Who's looking after your little ones now? Not Mr. Baggins?"
Sam almost laughed at the idea of Frodo minding a houseful of small children. "No, not by himself. He's got a cousin of his visiting--a widow-lady, Mrs. Melilot Took. She's got a little boy of her own." Melly Took had arrived at Bag End for an indefinite stay only a few days before Sam had departed for Gamwich; even though Melly had refused Frodo's proposal of marriage, Sam was somewhat anxious about leaving the two unchaperoned.
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The Uninvited Corpse by Kathryn Ramage
Story notes: This story takes place in the summer of 1427, about a month after Sharp Knives.
Sam and Frodo's previous visits to Gamwich occurred in Looking for Aunt Lula and A Rope to Hang Himself. The murder in that second story is discussed here, so if you haven't read that one yet and don't want to be spoiled, please follow the link before proceeding.
Special Thanks: To Susan, for her beta-read and comments.
