Chapter Six - Revelations

Back inside the study, Miss Hemlock dismissed her remaining students for the day, saying she had a terrible headache. The exam would be given tomorrow when she had more than fifty percent of her students in attendance. After the tutor had left, both Pervinca and Degger lingered at their desks, still stunned by all that had happened. Pervinca finally broke the silence.

“I hope she feels better tomorrow,” she said glumly.

“So do I,” said Degger.

“Are you going back to your room to study?” Pervinca inquired. “You don’t have to be in the kitchen for two hours yet.”

“I want t’ go back t’ my room, but I have t’ pass near the kitchen t’ get t’ it. The Overseer will see me.”

“That isn’t right, Degger,” said Pervinca. “You need this time to study. Perhaps I will walk with you until you are well past the kitchen. Maybe the Overseer won’t bother you if he sees you’re with me.”

“That is right kind of ye, Miss Pervinca,” said Degger, “but won’t folk be talkin’ if they see ye walkin’ with a servant? A lad servant?”

“Tosh! The people round here have been told that you were our friend before you became a servant at Great Smials--long before my family moved here. If they cannot get past that wee fact, then they aren’t worth my time to try and explain it further.”

Degger had a gut feeling that things were going to turn out just as he imagined in his head; he had heard talk of the extra preparations going on for the important visitors from Buckland, however, he certainly was not going to reject such a kind offer from someone who considered him a friend--he didn’t have many of them. “All right, Miss Pervinca, and I thank ye.”

The young pair stood up, walking toward the door. “You know Degger, I sometimes wish that we all still lived back at Whitwell. No one had to call me ‘Miss’, and I’m not sure I like being treated as an aristocrat. I just want to be considered as plain old Vinca. Not even six months ago it was my job to help Pippin with the chores in the barn, or help my sisters clean the smial.”

Degger was quite surprised at her confession. “Do ye miss it?” The lad never did get used to being round such large, foul-smelling animals. He had always lived in a rather large town.

“Sometimes. I don’t have many friends here, either, Degger--at least not yet. However, my cousin, Estella Bolger, is a promising kindred spirit. She and I think so much alike--and we’re the same age. The problem is that her family lives all the way in Budgeford. They only come here on occasion to visit her uncle Ferdinand.”

“I don’t think Miss Bolger is remiss at all if she considers ye a friend. My sister and me send letters to each other a lot. Perhaps ye and Miss Bolger could do the same.”

Pervinca smiled, having already exchanged addresses with her newest friend. “That sounds splendid, Degger--”

Degger winced; he thought they weren’t even near the kitchen yet and he heard his name shouted. “Sir?”

The Overseer approached the teens. “Hurry up and get out o’ yer study clothes and help us scrub down the kitchen floor. We got important visitors coming t’day!”

“Aye, sir.”

“Mr. Weaver, Degger has an exam tomorrow. He needs to study for it.”

“Miss, he’ll ’ave plenty o’ time t’ study after he’s scrubbed the floor clean. Ye have five minutes t’ get back here, Degger.”

Pervinca looked to Degger, “But you have to study!”

“I have t’ do as I’m asked, Miss Pervinca.”

“Four minutes, Degger!” the Overseer scowled.

“Fine!” Pervinca piled her books upon Degger’s. “Take my books back to your room. I’ll ask Pippin to pick them up later--now go to your room and study.”

“Miss?” Degger was once again staggered by this lass’s spirit. She obviously wasn’t all talk.

“You heard me, Degger, now go on!” Pervinca gave her friend a wee shove before marching off with a very surprised Overseer.

* * *

The tunnels Merry walked passed were a weary blur, however, he soon stood upon the mat placed before the door of his uncle’s office. He knocked softly so as not to disturb his uncle Paladin. What if his uncle was taking one of his clandestine naps upon the couch in his office?

“Come in.”

The tweenager winced at hearing his uncle’s voice beyond the door. Darn the bad luck! He apparently was awake. Merry turned the door handle to enter the room.

“Ah, Merry!” said Paladin, “We’ve been waiting for you. Come inside and sit next to your partner-in-mischief.”

Walking inside, Merry caught sight of his young cousin sitting upon the couch. Their eyes met, but Pippin looked away. He surmised that by now his uncle Paladin knew everything about their plan, and that Pippin felt the ramification of it on the seat of his breeches. Before sitting down beside Pip, Merry handed his uncle the note Miss Hemlock had written.

Paladin opened the paper to read it. “Let us read about your daring deed, shall we?” He read for a minute and then laid the paper aside. “Just as I thought.” Paladin picked up the same paper that Miss Hemlock had given him when she deposited Pippin a bit earlier.

“I once met a lass who was blessed, in the area, of well, you can guess,” he shot his teenaged son a look of disdain. “I tried not to stare, and asked if she’d share...she said ‘no’ and then glared…” Now Paladin really glowered at Pippin, “the beer, sadly, went to older guests.”

“I didn’t get to speak that last bit,” said Pippin a tad cautiously, hoping to garner mercy.

Paladin silenced the teen with another hard gaze. “In one hand, I have poetry that is on the verge of sordid,” he said while holding Pippin’s poetry paper, “and utter sabotage in this one.” He rattled Merry’s note with the other. Paladin let his eyes gaze upon the guilt-ridden lads. “What am I to do with the lot of you, eh?”

“I think Merry needs more time here at Great Smials, Papa,” Pippin put in.

“Merry’s family will be here soon to claim him, so I believe he’ll have more time with his father. I don’t have time for this, lads!” Paladin nearly shouted at them. “I am up to my ears with my own studies, I have to make a decision about Degger before teatime, and the last thing I need is--” Paladin gritted his teeth; he did not mean to disclose anything about Degger. He took a deep breath, “…What I am in need of is for you lads to behave proper toward your fellow study-mates and obey your tutor.” He watched as the two young hobbits looked at one another and then become downcast.

“Merry, your parents are expected round teatime,” said Paladin. “At that time, I shall turn you over to your father for punishment. And as for you, Pippin,” Paladin looked to his son, “you will go to your room this instant until--” Paladin glanced at his nephew who was giving a great big yawn. “Merry, am I boring you? Then again, perhaps all of this tomfoolery is taking up much of your energy. Pimpernel told me of seeing your lantern on under the crack of your door when she leaves for the fields in the morning.” Paladin leaned forward in his chair across from the lads, arms folded with elbows perched on his knees. “You lads have already interrupted my afternoon, so I beg you to tell all.”

“Pip hasn’t told you?” Merry asked, a bit surprised. Pippin shook his head in reply.

“He was just about to when you arrived with your note…so indulge me, Merry,” said Paladin, now leaning back in his chair to rest his head. His headache was growing more intense.

After listening to everything his nephew revealed, confessed, and admitted to, Paladin was about to lecture the lads on consulting an adult when faced with obstacles too big for a teen or tween. However, the door to his office flew open with yet another interruption. In walked the Thain who dragged in two teenaged hobbits by each arm. He none too gently pushed them both into a chair.

“I found this one,” he pointed to Pervinca, “scrubbing the kitchen floor like a common lass, and this one,” he glared at Degger, “who should have been the one working, was off to his room as if he were the king-come-back.”

Paladin gave his elder an icy stare and then addressed the children. He first spoke to Degger, who was red-faced with humiliation and near tears. “Degger, I want you to go directly to your room and stay there for the remainder of the afternoon.” The poor lad looked panic-stricken so Paladin spoke more softly to put the teen at ease. “It’s all right, Degger. I want you to take this time to study. Looking at the time, I suspect that Miss Hemlock did not give the exam this morning?”

“No, sir,” Degger and Pervinca answered in unison.

Ferumbras started to object, but Paladin held up his hand for silence. “Then I want you to study all the more. Expect your tutor to stop by your room after tea; she plans to give you private lessons to bring you up to speed with your study-mates. After that, your time is your own, though I should encourage you to get a good night’s rest for tomorrow.”

“Aye, sir.” Degger knew better than to argue with his benefactor. At once, he rose up from his chair, taking his leave of Paladin and the Thain. The lad felt the Thain’s hostile eyes upon him as he passed him on the way out.

Paladin now turned to his own children and nephew, who instantly wiped the grins off their faces. “All three of you march to the family’s study and wait there for me. I am not yet finished with you.” He waited for them to file out of his office before turning his attention to his elder cousin.

“Now it is just you and I, cousin.”

“I don’t approve of your parenting skills for one,” said Ferumbras, “and second, your idea of educating one of my servants is an utter outrage. It’s insulting to those who have been born and raised a certain way in this smial. You will not change things, Paladin.”

“I will change things one child at a time, if need be,” Paladin retorted. “My job as Thain-in-training is to manage the staff here at Great Smials. Do you not think a farmer capable of such? In numbers alone, I have managed more field workers than hobbits you have on staff here. What did you tell Mr. Weaver that got him all vexed about my brother-in-law’s visit and took Degger from his studies? Mr. Weaver knows well not to disturb the lad, so he must have felt desperate in some fashion--especially when two of his best workers walked out last week. And if I might add, my labourers never quit on me when things got rough.”

Ferumbras squirmed in his seat. “I don’t know what you are talking about, Paladin,” he sneered. “I don’t doubt your abilities…except when it affects my staff--or Great Smials. I felt Mr. Weaver and his workers were far too lax in preparing for the Master of Buckland’s heir.”

“So, you’re saying that I’m too lax?” Paladin grew angry. Why didn’t Ferumbras just shut his mouth? The more he opened it, the more Paladin wanted to stuff a ball of yarn into it. “Perhaps--but at least I am not a tyrant who places yokes upon people’s necks that are too heavy to carry--that they simply cannot deal with it. They have families to support--children to feed, and yet they choose to walk out. I had things for Sara’s visit well under control until you walked into it.”

“And it was a good thing I did,” Ferumbras spoke coolly. It was apparent that they would never see eye to eye on anything. He placed a hand on Paladin’s shoulder, speaking to him as if he were a witless child. “It might take a bit of time, but you will eventually catch on as to how things are run here. You will find that it is much more than shovelling after cows.”

Paladin swept his cousin’s hand off his shoulder. “If you meddle into my tasks without so much as conferring with me beforehand, then you can expect disasters such as this to happen. Second, Degger is my responsibility and your mother knew this from the start, so if I choose to educate him, that is my prerogative, especially when the cost is coming out of my own purse. Third,” Paladin got up and close to his cousin for effect, “if you ever so much as lay a hand on my daughter as you did today--or any of my children, then you and I will be settling our differences in a storeroom. Good day.” With that, Paladin walked out of his own office, leaving his embittered cousin behind.