Free The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien Page B

needed to cure the guests of shock and annoyance. ‘He’s mad. I always said so,’ was probably the most popular
     comment. Even the Tooks (with a few exceptions) thought Bilbo’s behaviour was absurd. For the moment most of them took it
     for granted that his disappearance was nothing more than a ridiculous prank.
    But old Rory Brandybuck was not so sure. Neither age nor an enormous dinner had clouded his wits, and he said to his daughter-in-law,
     Esmeralda: ‘There’s something fishy in this, my dear! I believe that mad Baggins is off again. Silly old fool. But why worry?
     He hasn’t taken the vittles with him.’ He called loudly to Frodo to send the wine round again.
    Frodo was the only one present who had said nothing. For some time he had sat silent beside Bilbo’s empty chair, and ignored
     all remarks and questions. He had enjoyed the joke, of course, even though he had been in the know. He had difficulty in keeping
     from laughter at the indignant surprise of the guests. But at the same time he felt deeply troubled: he realized suddenly
     that he loved the old hobbit dearly. Most of the guests went on eating and drinking and discussing Bilbo Baggins’ oddities,
     past and present; but the Sackville-Bagginses had already departed in wrath. Frodo did not want to have any more to do with
     the party. He gave orders for more wine to be served; then he got up and drained his own glass silently to the health of Bilbo,
     and slipped out of the pavilion.
    As for Bilbo Baggins, even while he was making his speech, he had been fingering the golden ring in his pocket: his magic
     ring that he had kept secret for so many years. As he stepped down he slipped it on his finger, and he was never seen by any
     hobbit in Hobbiton again.
    He walked briskly back to his hole, and stood for a moment listening with a smile to the din in the pavilion, and to the sounds
     of merrymaking in other parts of the field. Then he went in. He took off his party clothes, folded up and wrapped in tissue-paper
     his embroidered silk waistcoat, and put it away. Then he put on quickly some old untidy garments, and fastened round his waist
     a worn leather belt. On it he hung a short sword in a battered black-leather scabbard. From a locked drawer, smelling of moth-balls,
     he took out an old cloak and hood. They had been locked up as if they were very precious, but they were so patched and weatherstained
     that their original colour could hardly be guessed: it might have been dark green. They were rather too large for him. He
     then went into his study, and from a large strong-box took out a bundle wrapped in old cloths, and a leather-bound manuscript;
     and also a large bulky envelope. The book and bundle he stuffed into the top of a heavybag that was standing there, already nearly full. Into the envelope he slipped his golden ring, and its fine chain, and then
     sealed it, and addressed it to Frodo. At first he put it on the mantelpiece, but suddenly he removed it and stuck it in his
     pocket. At that moment the door opened and Gandalf came quickly in.
    ‘Hullo!’ said Bilbo. ‘I wondered if you would turn up.’
    ‘I am glad to find you visible,’ replied the wizard, sitting down in a chair, ‘I wanted to catch you and have a few final
     words. I suppose you feel that everything has gone off splendidly and according to plan?’
    ‘Yes, I do,’ said Bilbo. ‘Though that flash was surprising: it quite startled me, let alone the others. A little addition
     of your own, I suppose?’
    ‘It was. You have wisely kept that ring secret all these years, and it seemed to me necessary to give your guests something
     else that would seem to explain your sudden vanishment.’
    ‘And would spoil my joke. You are an interfering old busybody,’ laughed Bilbo, ‘but I expect you know best, as usual.’
    ‘I do – when I know anything. But I don’t feel too sure about this whole affair. It has now come to the final point. You have
     had your