The Return Of The Shadow Part 16

'Well, I hope you will still be laughing this time next year,' said Gandalf.

'And I hope you will, too,' retorted Bilbo.

The new version continues (from 'and he was never seen in Hobbiton again'): He walked briskly back to his hole, and stood listening with a smile for a moment to the sounds of merrymaking going on in various parts of the field. Then he went in. He took off his party clothes, folded up and wrapped in tissue paper his embroidered waistcoat with the silk [> gold] b.u.t.tons and put it away. Then he put on some old and untidy garments,(13) and from a locked bottom drawer (reeking of mothb.a.l.l.s) he got out an old cloak and an old hood that seemed to have been laid up as carefully as if they were very precious, though they were so weatherstained and mended that their original colour (probably dark green) could hardly be guessed. They were rather too big for him. He put a large bulky envelope on the mantelpiece, on which was written BINGO.

He chose his favourite thick stick from the hall stand, and then whistled. Several dwarves appeared from various rooms where they had been busy.

'Is everything ready?' Bilbo asked. 'Everything packed up [added: and labelled]?'

'Everything,' they said.

'Well, let's start then. Lofar, you are stopping behind, of course [added: for Gandalf]: please make sure that Bingo gets the letter on the dining room mantelpiece as soon as he comes in. Nar, Anar, Hannar, are you ready?(14) Right. Off we go.'

He stepped out of the front door. It was a fine clear night, and the black sky was full of stars. He looked up, sniffing the air. 'What fun!' he said. 'What fun to be off again - on the Road with dwarves: this is what I have really been longing-for for years.' He waved his hand to the door: 'Goodbye,' he said. He turned away from the lights and voices in the field and the tents, and followed by his three companions went round to the garden on the west side of Bag-End, and trotted down the long sloping path. They jumped the low place in the hedge at the bottom and took to the meadows, pa.s.sing like a rustle in the gra.s.ses.

At the bottom of the Hill they came to a gate opening on to a narrow lane. As they climbed over, a dark figure in a tall hat rose up from under the hedge.

'Hullo, Gandalf!' cried Bilbo. 'I wondered if you would turn up.

'And I wondered if you would,' replied the wizard; 'or if you would think better of it.(15) I suppose you feel that everything has gone off splendidly, and just as you intended?'

'Yes,' said Bilbo. 'Though that flash was surprising: it quite startled me, let alone the others. A little addition of yours, I suppose? '

'It was,' answered Gandalf. 'You have wisely kept that Ring secret all these years; and it seemed to me necessary to give them all some reason to explain their not noticing your sudden vanishment [> to give them all something they would think explained your sudden vanishment].'

'You are an interfering old busybody,' laughed Bilbo; 'but I expect you know best, as usual.'

'I do,' said Gandalf, 'when I know anything. But I do not feel too sure about the whole affair. Still, it has now come to the final point. You have had your joke, and successfully alarmed or offended all your friends and relations, and given the whole Shire something to talk about for nine days (or ninety-nine more likely). Are you going to go any further? '

'Yes, I am,' answered Bilbo.(16) 'I really must get rid of It, Gandalf. Well-preserved, indeed,' he snorted. 'Why, I feel all thin - sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like string that won't quite go round a parcel, or, or, b.u.t.ter that is sc.r.a.ped over too much bread. And that can't be right.'

'No,' said Gandalf thoughtfully. 'No. I was afraid it might come to that. I dare say your plan is the best, at any rate for you. At least at present I do not feel I know enough to say anything definite against it.'

'What else can I do? I can't destroy the thing, and after what you have told me I am not going to throw it away. Oddly enough I find that impossible to make up my mind to do - I simply put it back in my pocket. I find it very hard even to leave behind! And yet I don't want it, indeed I can't abide it any more. But you did promise to keep an eye on Bingo, didn't you, and to help him if he needs it, later on? Otherwise, of course, I should hardly be able to go. I should have to stop and put up with it.'

'I will do what I can for him,' said Gandalf. 'What have you done with it meanwhile? '

'It is in the envelope with my will and other papers. Lofar is giving it to Bingo as soon as he comes in.'

'My dear Bilbo! And with Otho Sackville-Baggins about the place, and that Lobelia wife of his! Really you are getting reckless. And I suppose you left the door unlocked as usual?'

'Yes, I am afraid I did. I rather fancy Bingo will be creeping off home before anyone else.'

'Fancy is not safe enough! But you may be right. He knows about it, of course?'

'He knows that I have, or had, the Ring: he has read my private memoirs,(17) for one thing; and he also has some idea [> he may have an inkling] that it has some other - er - effects than just making you invisible on occasion. But he doesn't, or didn't, know quite what I was beginning to feel about it. But after all, as it cannot be destroyed, and can only be handed on - it had best be handed on to him: I chose him as the best in all the Shire: and he is my heir. He knows that I am leaving that to him with all the rest. I don't suppose he would ask to be excused this responsibility, and take only the money.'

'He will miss you pretty badly, you know? '

'Yes, I found it very hard to make up my mind. It is hard on him - but not too hard, I think. The time has come for him to be his own master. After all, if things had been more - er - normal, he would have been losing me soon anyway, if he had not already done so. I am sorry to cheat all my dear people of a grand funeral - how they all did enjoy Old Took's - but there it is.'

'Does he know where you are going?'

'No! I am not sure myself, really. And I think that is just as well for everybody. He might want to follow me.'

'So might I. I hope you will take care of yourself! '

'Take care! I don't care. And don't be unhappy about me: I am as happy as ever I have been, and that is saying a lot. But the time has come. I am being swept off my feet,' he added mysteriously, and then in a low voice as if to himself he sang softly in the darkness.

The Road goes ever on and on Down from the Door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow if I can, Pursuing it arith weary feet, Until it joins some larger may, Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.(18) He stopped silent a moment. Then 'Goodbye, Gandalf! ' he cried, and made off into the night. Nar, Anar, and Hannar followed him.(19) Gandalf remained by the gate for a little, and then sprang over it and made his way up the Hill.(20) It will be seen that in this pa.s.sage, far different from that which occupies the same narrative place in FR pp. 40 - 4, my father was thinking about the effect of the Ring on its possessor on very much the same lines as in the chapter on Gollum (the 'foreword'), pp. 79 - 80. Moreover in FR the conversation - and quarrel - between Bilbo and Gandalf takes place in Bag End, so that the elements in the present version of Gandalf's anxiety about the Ring, left unguarded in an envelope at Bag End, and his going up the Hill to find Bingo, do not arise; Gandalf was sitting there waiting for him when he came in.

The clearing up of the party follows the earlier version, of course (FR p. 45); but the end of the chapter exists in two variant forms, marked as such. One of the variants, very much longer than the other and preceding it, is itself heavily modified. To look at this first: the list of presents remains the same, with some further changes in the names.(21) With 'Of course, this was only a selection of the presents' the new text advances very close to the form in FR (pp. 46-7), with the reflections on the cluttered nature of hobbit-holes (on which Bingo had remarked: 'We soon shan't be able to sit down for stools or tell the time for clocks in Bag- End'), and the gifts to Gaffer Gamgee (but Bilbo's collection of magical toys, pp. 33, 38, still remains); the dozen bottles of Old Winyards go to Rory Brandybuck, and are said to come from 'the south Shire', not yet the Southfarthing.

From 'not a penny piece or a bra.s.s farthing was given away' there is a rejected text and a replacement, differing from each other chiefly in the arrangement of the elements. As written first, the Sackville-Bagginses are introduced immediately, demanding to see the will - which is given at length;(22) then follows the rumour that the entire contents of Bag End were being distributed, and 'in the middle of the commotion' Bingo finds Lobelia investigating, ejects the three young hobbits, and has a fight with Sancho Proudfoot;(23) and the pa.s.sage concludes with 'The fact is that Bilbo's money had become a legend...' (FR p. 48).

In the replacement text the structure in FR (pp.47-8) is reached, with the sole important difference that Merry's role is taken by the dwarf Lofar, who had stayed behind after Bilbo's departure (p. 238); and the only minor differences from FR are that Otho Sackville-Baggins is still a lawyer, the date of Bingo's entry into his inheritance is stated (midnight on 22 September), the witnessing of the will was by three hobbits of more than 33 years old, according to the custom, and the Sackville-Bagginses 'more than hinted that he or the wizard (or the pair of them together) were at the bottom of the whole business.' The exchange between Frodo and Merry on the subject of Lobelia's calling Frodo a Brandybuck is of course not present - Bingo merely 'shut the door behind her with a grimace.'

The short variant is very short, and was not adopted. The large crowd who arrived at Bag End on the morning after the party does no more than go away again when they see a notice on the gate saying: 'Mr Bilbo Baggins has gone away. There is no further news. Unless your business is urgent, please do not knock or ring. Bingo Baggins.' The Sackville- Bagginses 'thought that their business was urgent. They knocked and rang several times.' Admitted by Lofar the Dwarf, the remainder of the pa.s.sage is the same as in the (revised) long variant and FR - the interview between Bingo and the Sackville-Bagginses in the study, ending with Bingo's telling Lofar not to open the front door even against battering- rams (and omitting the mopping-up operations against the three young hobbits and Sancho Proudfoot). Thus the entire 'business' of the presents, and the invasion of Bag End, was in this variant removed. For my father's intention here see p.276.

The reappearance of Gandalf at Bag End now enters the story, and begins pretty well exactly as in FR (p.48), but soon significant differences enter the conversation, from the point where Gandalf says to Bingo 'What do you know already?' (FR p.49): 'Only Bilbo's tale of how he got it,(24) from that Gollum creature, and how he used it afterwards, on his journey I mean. I don't think he used it much after he came home; though he used to disappear (or not be findable) rather mysteriously sometimes, if things were a bit inconvenient. We saw the Sackville-Bagginses coming when we were out walking one day, and he disappeared, and came out from behind a hedge after they had gone by.(25) Being invisible has its advantages.'

'But it also has its disadvantages. It does not do much harm as a joke, nor even to avoid "inconveniences" - but even these things . have to be paid for. Also making you invisible, when you wish, is not the only property of the Ring.'

'I know what you mean,' said Bingo; 'Bilbo did not seem to change much. They called him well-preserved. But I must say that also seems to me to have its advantages. I cannot make out why the dear old thing left the Ring behind.'

'No, I expect you cannot yet. But you may find out the disadvantages of that as well, in time. For instance, Bilbo seemed a bit restless of late years, didn't he?'

'Yes, for quite a long time,' 'Well, I think that was a symptom too. I don't want to alarm you, but I want you to be careful. Take care of the Ring, and take care of yourself, and watch yourself. Don't use the Ring,(26) or let it get any more, er, power over you than you can help. Keep it secret, and let me know, if you hear, see, or feel anything at all odd.' 'All right. But what is all this about?'

'I am not quite sure. I begin to guess, and I don't like the guesses. But I am now going off to find out as much as I can.

Before I have done so, I am not going to say any more, except to warn you, and to promise you what help I can give.'

'But you say you are going off?'

'Yes, for a bit. But you'll be safe for a year or two, in any case. Don't worry. I shall come and see you again as soon as I can - quietly, you know. I don't think I shall be visiting the Shire openly again very much. I find I have become rather unpopular: they say I am a nuisance and a disturber of the peace; and some people are accusing me of spiriting Bilbo away. It is supposed to be a little plot between me and you (if you want to know).'

'That sounds like Otho and Lobelia.(27) How outrageous! I only wish I knew why and where old Bilbo has gone. Do you? Do you think I could catch him up or find him if I went off at once? I would give Bag-end and everything in it to the Sackville-Bagginses if I could do that.'

'I don't think I should try. Let poor Bilbo get rid of the Ring - which he could only do (reluctantly) by handing it on to you, for a bit.(28) Do what he wished and hoped you would.'

'What is that?'

'Live on here; keep up Bag-end; guard the Ring - and wait.'

'All right - I will try; but I should prefer to go after Bilbo.(29) I don't know if that is a symptom, as you call it - though I have only had the Ring a day or less?'

'No, not yet. It merely means you were fond of Bilbo. He knew it was hard on you. He hated leaving you. But there it is. We may all understand this better before the end. I must say goodbye now. Look out for me - at any time, especially unlikely ones. If you really need me send a message to the nearest dwarves: I shall try and give them some knowledge of where I am.(30) Goodbye!'

Bingo saw him off. The dwarf Lofar went with him carrying a large bag. They walked away down the path to the gate at a surprising pace,(31) but Bingo thought the wizard looked rather bent, almost as if bowed under a heavy burden. The evening was closing in, and he soon vanished into the twilight. Bingo did not see him again for a long time.

About this time my father wrote a new experimental opening to the chapter, in which the facts and a.s.sertions about the family history were communicated through the talk of Gaffer Gamgee, Old Noakes, and Sandyman the miller in The Ivy Bush. The mention of Sam Gamgee as the Bag End gardener shows that it was in fact written after the second chapter, 'Ancient History', which now follows; for if this text had been already in existence my father would not have given an explanation of who Sam Gamgee was when he appears in 'Ancient History' (p. 253). But it is convenient to notice it here.

This version of the conversation had still a good way to go before it reached the form in FR (pp. 30 - 2). The opening of the chapter was now to be greatly compressed: When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag-end, Under-hill, announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton. Before long rumour of the event travelled all over the Shire, and the history and character of Mr Baggins became once again the most popular topic of conversation. The older folk who remembered something of the strange happenings sixty years before found their reminiscences suddenly in demand, and rose to the gratifying occasion with entertaining invention when mere facts failed them.

No one had a more attentive audience than old Ham Gamgee, commonly known as the Gaffer. He held forth at the Ivy Bush,(32) a small inn on the Bywater Road; and he spoke with some authority, for he had tended the garden at Bag-end for half a century, and had helped his father in the same job before that. Now that he was grown old and creaky in the joints he had pa.s.sed the job on to one of his own sons, Sam Gamgee.

The subject of Bingo is treated thus: 'And what about this Mr Bingo Baggins that lives with him?' asked old Noakes of Bywater.(33) 'I hear he is coming of age on the same day.'

'That's right,' said the Gaffer. 'He has the same birthday as Mr Bilbo, September the twenty-second. It is a sort of link between them, as you might say. Not but what they get on remarkably well, and have done all the last twelve years, since Mr Bingo came to Bag-end. Very much alike in every way, they are, being closely related. Though Mr Bingo is half a Brandybuck by rights, and that's a queer breed, as I've heard tell. They fool about with boats and water, and that isn't natural. Small wonder that trouble came of it, I say.'

For the rest, Mr Twofoot of Bagshot Row does not appear; Gorboduc Brandybuck is called by the Gaffer 'the head of the family, and mighty important down in Buckland, I'm told'; the miller does not suggest that there was anything more sinister in the drowning of Drogo Baggins and his wife than Drogo's weight; the hobbit who introduces the topic of the tunnels packed with treasure inside the Hill is not 'a visitor from Michel Delving' but 'one of the Bywater hobbits', and there are many differences of phrasing.

NOTES.

1. My father actually wrote '"Unex[pected]P[arty]" chapter' - thinking of the first chapter of The Hobbit. Cf. my suggestion about his use of the word 'sale' in Queries and Alterations, note 2.

2. The actual t.i.tle of Chapter II was 'Three's Company and Four's More' (p. 49). - A pencilled note on the same page says: 'Should Bingo spend all his money? Is it not better he should be sacrificing something? Though he must give out that he has spent it.'

3. The pa.s.sage about Bilbo's book and the reception accorded to it, which had survived unchanged from the second version (p. 19), was at first repeated here, but subsequently replaced by the following: He told many tales of his adventures, of course, to those who would listen. But most of the hobbits soon got tired of them, and only one or two of his younger friends ever took them seriously. It is no good telling ordinary hobbits about dragons: they either disbelieve you or want to disbelieve you, and in either case stop listening. As he grew older Bilbo wrote his adventures in a private book of memoirs, in which he recounted some things that he had never spoken about (such as the magic ring); but that book was never published in the Shire, and he never showed it to anyone, except his favourite 'nephew' Bingo.

4. This was Bingo's age at the time of his adoption in the fourth version (p. 36), but it was changed in the course of the writing of the present text (see p. 236).

5. In Queries and Alterations (note 2) the suggestion was that Drogo Baggins should be Bilbo's first cousin.

6. This remark about Bilbo and Bingo having the same birthday was a pencilled addition, but the idea goes back to the third version (p. 29),when Bingo was Bilbo's son.

7. The Great Hole of Bucklebury: Brandy Hall has been named and described in the original version of 'A Short Cut to Mushrooms' (p. 99).

8. Added in pencil: and the Old Took himself had only reached the age of 125 (though the t.i.tle Old was bestowed on him, it is true, not so much for his age as for his oddity, and because of the enormous number of the young, younger, and youngest Tooks).

9. This was to be the first, intentionally obscure, reference to the Ring in the story. With the shortening and alteration of this initial converation between Gandalf and Bilbo before the Party (p. 237) this reference was removed, and it is then first spoken of only after Bilbo's vanishment.

10. Gawkroger is an English (Yorkshire) surname, meaning 'clumsy Roger'.

11. The textual situation is in fact of fearful complexity in this part, the ma.n.u.script being const.i.tuted from two 'layers', and the earlier of the two being const.i.tuted partly from new ma.n.u.script and partly from the typescript of the fourth version. With the actual texts in front of one it can be worked out how my father was proceeding, but to present the detail in a printed book is neither possible nor necessary. It is demonstrable that the second 'layer', with revised dating of Bingo's life and the flash which accompanied Bilbo's vanishing, entered in the course of the composition of the chapter.

12. This perhaps suggests that Bingo had not been told of Bilbo's 'joke', cf. the outline on p. 233: 'So he does not even tell Bingo of the joke.' A pencilled correction and addition changed the pa.s.sage towards that in FR (p. 39).

The only one who said nothing was Bingo, the most concerned. His feelings were mixed. On the one hand he appreciated the joke (if no one else did). It was quite after his own heart: he would have liked to laugh and dance with mirth; and was grateful that he had been allowed to get the full and delicious suspense, for on the other hand he would have liked to weep. He was immensely fond of Bilbo, and the blow was crushing. Was he really never to see him again - not even to take another farewell? He sat for some time quite silent in his seat...

13. Added later: and fastened on a leather belt round his waist. On it hung a short sword in an old black leather scabbard.

Cf. Queries and Alterations, note 4, on the subject of Sting.

14. My father took all these four Dwarf-names from the same source in the Old Norse Elder Edda as those in The Hobbit.

15. Added later: But I want just a final word with you. Now, my good dwarves, just walk on down the lane a bit. I shan't keep you long!' He turned back to Bilbo. 'Well,' he said in a lowered voice.

16. From this point the earlier, rejected conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf before the Party (pp. 235 - 6, there marked 'Later') is taken up again, though not in the same form, and much extended.

17. A pencilled addition here probably says: '(the only one who has)', see note 3.

18. This verse came into existence in the original form of the chapter 'Three is Company' (pp. 47, 53), where it will now become a recollection of Bilbo's verse from years before. The two versions are the same, except that in lines 4 and 8 Bilbo's form here has I for toe. In FR (pp. 44, 82) both versions have I, not toe; but Bilbo's has eager in the 5th line where Frodo's has weary. In the present text eager is written above weary, and with this change the final form is reached in this instance (see p. 284 note 10).

19. This sentence was struck out when the addition given in note 15 was made.

20. The remainder of this part of the text is in very rough pencilled form, with alteration of the last pa.s.sage in ink preceding it: 'Goodbye, Gandalf!' he cried, and made off into the night. Gandalf remained by the gate for a moment, staring into the dark after him. 'Adieu, my dear Bilbo,' he said, ' - or au revoir.' [This was marked with an X: Gandalf would not use French, however useful the distinction.] And then he jumped over the low gate and made his way quickly up the Hill. 'If I find Lobelia sneaking round,' he muttered, 'I'll turn her into a weasel! ' But he need not have worried. At Bag-End he found Bingo sitting on a chair in the hall with the envelope in his hand. He refused to have any more to do with the party.

21. The umbrella now goes, not to Mungo Took, but to Uffo Took (Adelard Took in FR). Semolina Baggins becomes Drogo's sister, aged 92 (in FR she is Dora Baggins, aged 99). The feather-bed goes now not to Fos...o...b..lger (who had been Bingo's uncle when he was still a Bolger), but to Rollo Bolger (an equally suitable recipient), 'from his friend', Rollo Bolger has survived his displacement from Primula Brandybuck's husband and death by drowning in the Brandywine. The 'rather florid' dinner-service goes to Primo (not Inigo) Grubb; and the Hornblower who received the barometer now changes from Cosimo (by way of Carambo) to Colombo. Caramella Chubb, Orlando Burrows (so spelt), Angelica Baggins, Hugo Bracegirdle, and of course Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, remain, and their gifts. For the earlier lists see pp. 15, 32 - 3, 38.

22.'This is how the will ran: Bilbo (son of Bungo son of Mungo son of Inigo) Baggins hereinafter called the testator, now departing being the rightful owner of all properties and goods hereinafter named hereby devises, makes over, and bequeathes the property and messuage or dwelling-hole known as Bag-End Underhill near Hobbiton with all lands thereto belonging and annexed to his cousin and adopted heir Bingo (son of Drogo son of Togo son of Bingo son of Inigo) Baggins hereinafter called the heir, for him to have hold possess occupy let on lease sell or otherwise dispose of at his pleasure as from midnight of the twenty-second day of September in the one hundred and eleventh or eleventy-first year of the aforesaid Bilbo Baggins. Moreover the aforesaid testator devises and bequeathes to the aforesaid heir all monies in gold silver copper bra.s.s or tin and all trinkets, armours, weapons, uncoined metals, gems, jewels, or precious stones and all furniture appurtenances goods perishable or imperishable and chattels movable and immovable belonging to the testator and after his departure found housed kept stored or secreted in any part of the said hole and residence of Bag-end or of the lands thereto annexed, save only such goods or movable chattels as are contained in the subjoined schedule which are selected and directed as parting gifts to the friends of the testator and which the heir shall dispatch deliver or hand over according to his convenience. The testator hereby relinquishes all rights or claims to all these properties lands monies goods or chattels and wishes all his friends farewell. Signed Bilbo Baggins.

Otho, who was a lawyer, read this doc.u.ment carefully, and snorted. It was apparently correct and incontestable, according to the legal notions of hobbits. "Foiled again!" he said to his wife...' (etc. as in FR p. 47).

23. 'Old Proudfoot's son' (in FR 'old Odo Proudfoot's grandson', p. 48).

24. This sentence was extended in pencil as follows: 'Just what Bilbo's parting letter said: "Here's the Ring. Please accept it. Take care of it, and yourself. Ask Gandalf, if you want to know more." And of course I have read and heard Bilbo's tale of how he got it...'

25. This mention of Bilbo's disappearance when he saw the Sackville- Bagginses approaching was struck out in pencil, with the note 'Put in later'. See p. 300.

26. 'Don't use the Ring' was struck out in pencil, with 'If you take my advice you will not use the Ring' subst.i.tuted; and before the words 'Keep it secret' in the next sentence was added 'But have it by you always.'

27. In this version, Otho and Lobelia have as good as said this to Bingo (p. 241) - a pa.s.sage not in FR.

28. This was rewritten in pencil: 'I don't think I should try. I don't think it would please or help Bilbo. Let him get rid of the Ring - which he can only do, if you will accept it, for a bit.'

29. This was rewritten in pencil: 'All right - I will try. But I want to follow Bilbo. I think I shall in the end, anyway, if it is not then too late ever to find him again.'

30. This sentence ('If you really need me...') was bracketed (in ink) for probable exclusion.

31. This was rewritten in pencil: Bingo saw Gandalf to the door. There the dwarf Lofar was waiting. He popped up when the door was opened, and picked up a large bag that was standing in the porch. 'Goodbye, Bingo,' he said, bowing low. 'I am going with Gandalf.' 'Goodbye,' said Bingo. Gandalf gave a final wave of his hand, and with the dwarf at his side walked off down the path at a surprising pace...

At the end of the chapter my father wrote: 'Perhaps alter this - Gandalf has ring. Meeting at gate prearranged: ring handed over there. Gandalf's last visit is to give it to Bingo?' He struck this out and wrote 'No' against it. This had in fact been his idea when he wrote the outline given on p. 233, where Bilbo is to 'say goodbye to Gandalf at gate, hand him a package (with Ring) for Bingo, and disappear.'

32. Ivy Bush: changed at the time of writing from Creen Dragon. See note 33.

33. old Noakes of Bywater: changed at the time of writing from Ted Sandyman, the miller's son. This is a further indication that this version of the opening of 'A Long-expected Party' followed 'Ancient History', where the miller's son was named Tom until the very end of it (p. 269, note 9). The conversation between Sam Gamgee and Ted Sandyman in 'Ancient History' was in The Green Dragon at Bywater, and my father probably changed the rendezvous of Gaffer Gamgee's cronies to The Ivy Bush (note 32) for the same reason as he replaced the miller's son by Old Noakes.

I give here as much of the genealogy of Bilbo and Bingo as is established from the text at this time. The Baggins ancestry is derived from Bilbo's will (note 22); the names in brackets are those that differ in LR Appendix C, Baggins of Hobbiton.

The Old Took was evidently already known to have had many children beside his 'three remarkable daughters' (see note 8).