Chapter 9.  Surprises

Hally banked the fire, hitched the covers higher on Estella, all the way to her chin, and gave her a pat on the shoulder. ‘Sleep well, Twig,’ he said, as he always did, last thing before seeking his own pillow. ‘And may you dream pleasant dreams of your family, for I’m sure they’re missing you as much as you miss them.’

She blinked a little at the last part – usually he only said the “pleasant dreams of your family” part. She wondered what he might mean.

‘Does Twig miss his family so very much, Mama?’ Parsley’s sleepy voice was heard from the girls’ room.

‘Very much,’ Rosemary said. ‘That is why we must be extra kind to him, as you know.’

‘Extra kind,’ Parsley lisped, with a yawn somewhere in the middle of the words. She raised her sweet little voice to call, ‘G’night, Twig!’

‘G’night, Dumpling!’ Estella called back. She didn’t have to try to make her voice husky – Hally’s words about missing her family, and their missing her, had affected her throat and caused her eyes to sting.

She settled herself in her blankets, groaned a little as she sought the most comfortable position (it was a sleepy sound to make, she thought), allowed her breathing to gradually grow deeper and more even. All the while she listened hard to the sounds around her. Rosemary brought Parsley a drink of water, as requested, and another one to Buckthorn (evidently Lavvy and Robin had fallen asleep quickly). There were a few murmurs between Hally and Rose, but the words Estella could discern just sounded like “usual” words, sleepy bedtime blessings. There was no sound indicating a secret visitor, and she wondered if Ferdi had somehow already departed without being seen… perhaps when she’d gone out to relieve herself in the privy, in the growing darkness before the bedtime story?

To her surprise – well, she would have been surprised, had she been wakeful – she fell asleep.

Hally’s grip upon her shoulder woke her, that, and a sharp whisper from near the door to the parents’ bedroom.

‘But what are you doing, brother?!’

She opened her eyes to darkness. The main room of the smial was dimly lit by the turned-down lamp in the window. Even the banked fire showed no glowing coals.

Brother? She came suddenly wide awake. No one, at least no adult, would address someone else in the little smial, at this time of night, as “brother”! Unless…

She sat up abruptly, and Hally straightened and moved out of the way just in time to avoid her head connecting painfully with his chin. ‘What…?’ she breathed.

‘We have to talk,’ Hally whispered. ‘Before you make your way, brother, we have to…’

‘Why did you waken the lad?’ Rose’s voice came, soft but alarmed, and Estella saw the rather large shadow by the bedroom door break apart into two pieces. Two hobbits, one nearly a head taller than the other, but both obviously adults.

Rose and Ferdi had been sharing a farewell embrace, she thought, and Hally was supposed to be staring out the window, to see if the way was clear of ruffians – as he had when Freddy departed. Except he hadn’t, this time. He’d awakened Estella instead.

‘Come, Twig, make a form of yourself in the blankets, and join us in the pantry.’

The pantry was full to bursting, she remembered, and wondered. But of course they did not want to risk wakening the children with their whispers…

When she reached the pantry, she found Hally, Rosemary, and another shadowy hobbit, each perched upon a barrel, or stack of bulging sacks. Hally indicated a seat, and Estella entered (leaving the door ajar, as usual, which allowed the faint light of the watch-lamp to enter, at least a little) and climbed the nearest sacks to settle herself.

‘Hally, I—‘ Rosemary began, but her husband hushed her, holding up his hand. They sat quietly for a number of breaths, listening to the nightly noises.

‘There,’ Hally said. ‘I think it’s safe to talk. We hadn’t the chance to talk earlier, as things were, but there’s things that must be said, ‘ere you leave us, brother.’

‘Hally, what in the world…?’ Rosemary said. ‘Why did you waken he—?’ (she’d been about to say “her”, a rare slip on her part, but changed just in time), ‘—Twig?’

Hally hesitated.

The visitor sat in stony silence.

‘You must take Twig with you when you go,’ Hally said.

Ferdi spoke then, annoyance plain even in his whispered tone. ‘I thought we’d already been over this ground,’ he said. ‘You know my counsel in the matter…’

‘Send her back,’ Rosemary said bleakly, ‘though I'd rather keep her here, if it is not an option to take her to the Tookland.’

Hally shook his head. ‘No, that’s much too dangerous. The game is hard enough to play, without adding something else that we must constantly keep in mind, that we not let slip, to our visitors, that all is not as they think it to be.’ He took a deep breath and added, ‘And if they somehow discovered that she is really Estella Bolger, and not the lad “Twig”…’

‘Then send her back,’ Ferdi said. ‘As I told you, when we talked things over after my arrival, I’ll even escort her as far as Budge Ford, though it is far out of my way. At least I might gather some information for the Took while I’m there, so it won’t be a complete waste of effort.’

Estella might have bridled at being called “a waste” had she not been feeling so anxious. Still, it would be good to see her family again, mother, father, Freddy…

‘A waste of effort is right,’ Rosemary agreed with her brother, ‘though I’m rather thinking more of Freddy’s time, bringing her here, and ours…’ She put a warm hand on Estella’s cold one. ‘Not that I have considered a moment of your time here to be wasted. You’ve been more help than you’ll ever know.’ Estella found a little comfort in this.

Really, the idea of going home was growing more delightful in her imagination…

But Hally made a sharp gesture. ‘It’s out of the question,’ he said, directing his words mostly to Ferdi.

It was Rosemary who answered him. ‘But why?’ she said. ‘What is the matter, Hally? You’ve not been yourself all the evening.’

Hally made a rueful noise. ‘So much for “as usual”,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d been doing remarkably well, considering the circumstances.’

‘What circumstances?’ Ferdi and Rosemary asked in the same breath.

Hally took Rosemary’s free hand in his and drew it to his lips. Retaining his hold on her hand, he said earnestly. ‘Dearest to my heart, I would spare you this if I only could.’

‘Spare me what?’ Rosemary whispered, her grip on Estella’s hand tightening, while Ferdi leaned forward, as if to hear better.

‘Freddy came to me today,’ Hally said. He waited out Estella’s gasp, and Rosemary’s soft exclamation.

‘He’s here? Well then, that solves all our problems. He could bring his sister home…’ Ferdi said, and some of the tension went out of his stance.

‘No,’ Hally said. ‘But he came to find me in the Wood; he remembered where I like to make my cuttings, and waited for me there these past two days.’ He smiled grimly. ‘He did not dare approach the house, seeing the ruffians come and go. He has learnt much of travelling quietly, avoiding ruffians, waiting and watching without being seen in turn…’

‘But I can go to where he is,’ Estella said eagerly. ‘I could go out with you to the cutting, as Rob and I sometimes do, and…’

Hally was shaking his head. ‘No, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I imagine he’s already gone, back to the hills of Scary…’

‘Hills of Scary?’ Estella said, puzzled.

‘Much has happened in the time you’ve been with us, Twig,’ Hally said, emphasizing the last word. Ferdi leaned forward, as if to hear better, though he said nothing, only waited in silence to hear what more Hally might say.

‘Go on,’ Rosemary finally said, when the silence had stretched for some breaths.

‘Lotho has sent his Men to your parents’ home more than once…’

Estella’s eyes widened. It was bad enough to see them here, in the Woody End, but far worse, somehow, to imagine them bullying her parents and their servants.

‘Lotho has turned all his power to force your father to his will,’ Hally went on, grimly.

Ferdi shook his head. ‘And he has a fair amount of power these days, curse him,’ he muttered.

‘He would have had Freddy in the Lockholes on trumped-up charges if he could have,’ Hally said, and nodded at Estella’s gasp. ‘Save that it turned out he wouldn’t have to. Your brother has gathered together a group of hobbits from Budgeford, and it seems they’ve been raiding the ruffians’ storeholes, gathering from the ruffians what Lotho’s Men had gathered from hobbits…’

Estella said, ‘O Freddy!’ And to Hally, ‘Why would he do such a thing? Why wouldn’t he stay at home, and protect our parents?’

‘He’d’ve been thrown into the Lockholes on false charges for certain, had he done just that thing,’ Hally said. ‘It was leaving home that saved him.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Estella said, and Rosemary was looking as confused as she felt.

‘As it was, he was betrayed by a hobbit in the pay of the ruffians,’ Hally said. ‘Someone we didn’t know had turned against us…’ and Estella divined that he was speaking of a larger “we”, comprised of all the hobbits who were working individually or together to confound Lotho’s schemes. ‘He staged a shouting match with your father, and ran out of the Manse in a fury – he hoped it would convince Lotho and Lobelia that your father was innocent of any “wrongdoing” – against Lotho, that is – and spare him and your mother from a visit to the Lockholes themselves.’

‘He wouldn’t dare!’ Estella said in outrage.

‘He would,’ Ferdi said, very quietly, and when she looked to him, his gaze bored into her, filled with sorrow, and anger, and knowledge of others dragged to the Lockholes on charges, real or otherwise. ‘Go on, Hally.’

‘Had he stayed quietly at home, Lotho’s louts would have had him,’ Hally went on. As Estella started to speak, he held up his hand. ‘The Manse is empty; your parents are gone,’ he said. ‘You’d find no one at home, were you to go there now.’

‘Gone,’ Estella gasped. ‘Gone – to the Lockholes?’

‘Gone into hiding,’ Hally said. ‘And Freddy, with his band, live in hiding as well. I fear if the ruffians were to catch him, he would fare ill.’

Ferdi nodded, closing his hands into fists and opening them again, several times, as if he must dispel some nervous energy born of uncomfortable knowledge. ‘So she cannot go home,’ he said. ‘And if she stays here, she is a danger to you.’

‘More than you know,’ Hally said, and to Rose he added, ‘More than she knows, herself. It is very bad, Rose-my-love, very bad indeed. Freddy bore ill news with him when he came.’

‘What can be worse than you’ve already said?’ Rose answered.

‘Ah, Rose, it pains me to tell you this… I’d rather you went into the bedroom, shut yourself up with the babe, cuddle close and find comfort…’

‘Now Hally,’ Rose whisper-scolded. ‘You know me better than that!’

Hally nodded, but he looked very sad. ‘I do know you,’ he said. ‘Very well, my love. Take a deep breath.’

To her credit, Rosemary complied, and Estella did as well, though she wasn’t sure why.

Hally looked from one face to another, finally settling on Ferdi’s. ‘Lotho has decided,’ he said at last. ‘He apparently will not be moved, not even by his mother, or by any practical considerations…’

‘When has that hobbit ever been practical, I’d like to know?’ Ferdi said to no one in particular. ‘Ah, he’s pragmatic when it comes to business, as in acquiring what he wishes at the lowest possible price, and taking what he cannot buy, should someone try and resist him…’ He shook his head at himself; he was supposed to be gathering information, not airing his own opinions. ‘But forgive me, Hally. You were saying...’

‘You have the right of it, brother,’ Hally said soberly.

‘But what has he decided?’ Rosemary said, cutting to the heart of the matter. She could tell when her husband was talking around a subject, avoiding having to say something that pained him, or might cause her pain.

‘He has heard the talk, that Estella Bolger is the fairest young maid in the Shire,’ he said, every word weighted with reluctance. ‘He’s seen her beauty for himself, in the past. And lately his fascination with the lass has only grown. He sent his louts knocking on the door of the Manse, and forcing their way in, refusing to be denied, in order to take away any likeness of her that could be found hanging on its walls…’

Estella gasped in horror as the implications became clearer in her mind.

‘O Hally,’ Rosemary breathed.

‘And he has decided that he, as Chief of all in the Shire…’ Hally hesitated and, obviously steeling himself, went on, ‘…that he deserves only the best, and that Estella must be his to possess. He sought to buy her hand at first, a matter of good business, by currying favour with her father…’

Estella remembered several social visits from the Sackville-Bagginses, and how uncomfortable Lotho’s fixed gaze – perilously close to the rudeness of a stare – had made her feel. She remembered Lotho offering to do her father favours in business, of recommending stone from the Bolger’s quarries for various building schemes in the past few years. And it was all because…? She felt a wave of illness, but stifled it firmly.

‘And then he thought to threaten Freddy, that his parents might offer her up, to buy their only son’s freedom…’

‘They’d never!’ Estella burst out, though she managed to keep her voice to a near-whisper. Rosemary squeezed her hand, and she subsided into silence once more, though she had to breathe shallowly to restrain her nausea.

‘So you see, my dearest,’ Hally said, turning to Rosemary, his distress plain on his face, ‘you see, Lotho’s Men have been given orders to hunt her down, to turn over every rock where she might be hiding, in order to find her and return her to “safety” – to the bosom of a family that will love her and care for her, seeing as her own brother and parents have abandoned her. O’ course, as the “loving family” happens to be the Sackville-Bagginses, that leaves her completely vulnerable…’

‘To… to…’ Rosemary gasped, and Hally nodded slowly.

‘To a forced marriage with Lotho,’ he said. ‘A hobbit more than a score of years older – not quite old enough to be her father, but…’

‘Near enough,’ Ferdi said grimly.

Rosemary was still gasping, and then she pulled her hands free of Hally’s and Estella’s, covered her face, and began to weep wildly, though she did her best to stifle her sobs.

Before a shame-faced Hally could move to comfort her, Ferdi was hugging his sister tight, murmuring broken comfort. While Estella watched, frozen, Hally slowly put his arms around them both, brother and sister, and bowed his head on their shoulders.

It seemed to last an eternity, but at last Rosemary’s weeping stilled, and Hally lifted his head. ‘I know, my beloved,’ he whispered. ‘I know.’

‘She cannot go home,’ Ferdi said, his voice rough. ‘And she cannot stay here.’ He squared his shoulders and lifted his head. ‘She must go to a place where she will be safely beyond Lotho’s reach, out of his grasp…’

‘Forced marriage,’ Rosemary sobbed, and was still.

‘No, my love, my best beloved, heart of my own heart, breath of my lungs,’ Hally said. ‘No forced marriages, not then,’ and he put his arms around his wife once more and looked from Ferdi to Estella. ‘And certainly not now.’