A sunny day in the Shire in June 1342 SR (2942 TA)
A young girl with ribbons in her hair and a small basket in her hand was skipping along the path. First three times on her left leg, then two on her right, and three on her left again. Not that it made any sense, but it was fun to do! She looked at the crowd and commotion accompanying ... oh, an auction of some sort ... without much interest and resumed her skipping. She'd try her right as first this time.
That respectable Mr Baggins had gone mad and run off a year ago. Granny Proudfoot had also told her about men:
"If they're not wed by fifty they are queers of one sort or another, if you have my understanding, dear child".
She did have the understanding, all hobbit lasses were taught to watch out for the signs. Cloaks were high on the list. That Gandalf fellow the once respectable Mr Baggins ran off with – that was a queer writ large! With a cloak like that Lobelia knew he'd first offer her candy, and then either he'd show her what he has under the cloak or – even worse – ask her to touch him under the cloak. Ewww! Or – she gasped – he'd invite her to a tea party! She shuddered and missed a skip. Was it her left or right foot now?
The outcry at the auction made her take another look. Oh, there was the cloak wearing pervert and ... and Mr Baggins apparently was not dead but was fighting with Mrs Sackville-Baggins over silver table wear. Jolly good for him! Mad he may be, but he still had some marbles left. Everybody in Hobbition and beyond knew he had sterling quality silver tableware. Then her mind conjured the vision of Mr Baggins offering her candy and inviting her to a tea party at Bag End, together with Gandalf! She squealed in terror at the thought and skipping without any foreplan she sped to the Secret Place. A nice little enclosed meadow where she and her girl-friends of like age met to play. Lobelia Bracegirdle was twenty two and the early tweens were the last moment when a girl could play dolls (that's what she had in her basket besides a cold meal) and be respectable, and Lobelia wished to milk those days for all their worth.
AN:
Lobelia Sackvile-Baggins nee Bracegidle was born in TA 2918 (SR 1318), the quest was in TA 2941 (SR 1342). Could she had participated in the auction or stolen Bilbo's teaspoons? Do your math ...
