A/N I'll be gone for a week, so I decided to go ahead and post two chapters.
Disclaimer: See First Chapter.
Fourth Chapter
A Little Chit, a Bit of Chat
"Three cheers for Uncle Bilbo!" cried Ferdy Took, standing atop a table in the Green Dragon and brandishing his half-pint. "Hip hip…"
"Huzzah!" chorused the group of his equally enthusiastic cousins.
Berty leaped up beside Ferdy. "And a cheer for fine ale and the good Green Dragon!"
"Huzzah!"
"And here's to the confustication of all who turn up their noses at the Tooks!" shouted Charlesworth, making a trio.
The hearty "Huzzah!" which answered final sally gave Ferdy such a start that he tumbled off the table. He grinned up at the startled face of Farmer Maggot, at whose feet he had landed. "Buy you half a pint?"
"There, there, Lobelia," comforted Mrs. Sandyman, patting her distraught neighbor on the shoulder. Lobelia, in fact, had not ceased sobbing since Isabella had confirmed Bilbo's identity that afternoon. "Now, you just have a nice, soothing cup of tea, and you'll feel better."
Lobelia blew her nose on a large, purple handkerchief and gave a loud hiccup. "Oh Albertina…" She could get no further than that. Her face crumpled and she gave a loud wail.
Mrs. Sandyman hastily pulled the kettle off the stove and tipped boiling water into the waiting teapot. Setting a steaming cup before the sobbing hobbit, she tried the firm approach. "Now try to compose yourself, my dear. After all, you wouldn't want it said that you were completely broken up over a mere imposter!"
Lobelia looked up suddenly. "And that's just what he is! No matter what Isabella says!" Blowing her nose again, she took a bracing sip of tea.
Much relieved to see something approaching control in Lobelia's demeanor, Mrs. Sandyman was fixing her own cup when there was an urgent knock on the kitchen door. Wiping her hands on her flowered apron, she went to open it. "Why Dorothea!"
"Albertina, have I got news for you! And you too, Lobelia!" Dorothea Grubb bustled in and removed her cherry embellished hat. "My Arthur just got home from the Green Dragon, and you'll never believe the to-do that's to do over there."
Mrs. Sackville-Baggins and Mrs. Sandyman leaned forward expectantly.
Mrs. Grubb's nose twitched with excitement. "All of those Tooks were there that stayed to do favors for him as claims to be Bilbo Baggins, buying more ale than any decent hobbit ought." She paused dramatically. "And what do you suppose they were paying with?"
"What?" Mrs. Sandyman was not too proud to ask.
"Solid gold pieces as big as your palm. Arthur saw them with his own eyes." Twins gasps met her pronouncement, and she glowed with gratification. "They said they got them from the so-called Mr. Baggins. They said he's got heaps and heaps of treasure, all in chests he brought back from the wild lands."
"If it's true, and with a Took behind it there's more than half a chance it's not, then there's no doubt he got it dishonestly," stated Lobelia.
"Oh, oh my dear, do you think so?" Mrs. Sandyman unconsciously dipped her sleeve in her cooling tea.
"Well he's come here under a dishonest name, hasn't he? And he's taken property that doesn't rightly belong to him here, hasn't he? So what's to say he didn't do the same off in those foreign places he came from? Very immoral over there, they are." Lobelia nodded firmly.
Albertina Sandyman's eyes widened. "He could of stole it, or…perhaps someone paid it to him. Paid him for doing something terrible. Something terrible like…No, no, I oughtn't to say it."
"Oh, Albertina, we're in confidence among friends, of course," Mrs. Grubb urged.
Albertina took a deep breath. "Well, perhaps he killed someone!"
Dorothea and Lobelia stared at her in delighted horror. "Oh, Albertina!"
