A Pearl Beyond Price 12: Cruelty
The Great Smials, 1402
Pearl knew that, if they wanted to read the contents of the little blue book together and share what the found, she and the boys had better read it now. By way of punishment, Pippin was to be sent back to Whitwell with Pearl instead of continuing his visit with Merry. This was Esmeralda's wish and the boys did display recklessness and disobedience in their nighttime ride to the Great Smials. Frodo would be going on to Brandy Hall with Esmeralda and Merry as he wished to visit his Brandybuck cousins.
Pearl, with her brow wrinkled in thought, said, "I think we should read this now, Frodo. We will go our separate ways tomorrow. We may, at least, read some part of it. Maybe some of the last passages would be the ones to look at."
Frodo looked puzzled and asked, "Why, Pearl? Surely the lads here would be more interested in her adventures as a lass."
Pearl shook her head and replied, "They do not require any encouragement of that nature. Also, the book, as a Took artifact, will be going to Whitwell with me. I will eventually give it to Pippin's daughter, if he has one, and you would be interested in anything she wrote about Bilbo..."
"What is it?" asked Frodo in alarm at her pause.
She pursed her lips and said, "Why would Lalia have wanted to keep such a thing so close to her and hidden? She must have had some motive for coveting that book. She was not a Took, although she married one, and no kin to Belladonna. She could only have wanted to hide it if there was something uncomplimentary about her written in there."
"Huh!" said Frodo, "That is perceptive of you, Pearl. In that case, let us start with the very last entry and continue until we find what Lalia was trying to hide."
Pippin, squirming in excitement pleaded, "Can I read it?"
"Shhhh...Be patient, Pip," Merry admonished, although he seemed quite eager to hear the story as well.
"I think," said Frodo, "that this is, at least for now, Pearl's book and she should be the one to read it."
"Okay," said Pippin, who then turned to Pearl and begged, "but do not let us wait any longer."
"Very well," said Pearl and she began to read the last entry, which seemed to be written quite sloppily for a hobbit matron of Belladonna's education.
The Journal of Belladonna Took
6, Halimath, 1334
I am writing this in hopes that it will, one day, reach a friendly reader. I doubt this as the witch may destroy this book, in which I have written down many of the events of my life. I have ignored it for many years but I have had little of note to remark upon since my son was a fry.
I should not ramble as the old are prone to do as I am becoming weaker every moment. The Clayhanger snake has poisoned me. I knew she desired a wealthy husband but I severely underestimated what she would do to get one. She must have thought of me as an obstacle to a marriage with Bilbo and I was for I know she will make any Hobbit she marries miserable but my son has been of age for years and has always had his own strong will. If she thinks he will turn to her in his grief when I am not there to warn him against her, she is sorely mistaken.
She came all this way to impose on distant relations for the summer. I thought nothing of loitering about Bag End. She is stout but quite tall for a lass and handsome of feature, or so I thought until I noticed how sour the expression on her face always was. Bilbo eventually resorted to hiding from her and asked me to tell her he was not at home if she called. I am more direct than my son and told the baggage she was no longer welcome here.
She took this less than civilly but did not make a scene. I considered the matter finished until she came at teatime with a syrupy smile plastered on her face and those raspberry tarts. I was never able to resist raspberries.
I am weakening and can not write any longer. If Bilbo every finds out, I want him to know this is not his fault and he should feel no guilt. I hope he never finds out.
I can see the far green country Gandalf told me about when father died. Maybe Bungo will be there, waiting for me...
Pearl's voice cracked as she read the last sentence. She looked with tear-bright eyes at Frodo and the lads and, although her mouth opened and closed several times, the silence was not broken until Frodo spoke.
In a small, quiet voice he said, "It is unlikely I will ever see Bilbo again but, if I do, I will not tell him. It would only be cruel to tell him now. It was a sad end to a great lady."
The four hobbits contemplated the lengthening shadows for some time and even Pippin was unusually quiet. Only the dinner bell roused them from their thoughts.