"GL1" - читать интересную книгу автора (vol06)

their memories. The Bagginses were fairly numerous in those

parts, and generally respected; but Bingo belonged to a branch of
the family that was a bit peculiar, and there were some odd stories
about them. Bingo's father, as some still remembered, had once
made quite a stir in Hobbiton and Bywater - he had disappeared
one April 30th after breakfast, and had not reappeared until
lunch-time on June 22nd in the following year. A very odd
proceeding, and one for which he had never accounted satisfac-
torily. He wrote a book about it, of course; but even those who had
read it never took that seriously. It is no good telling hobbits about
dragons: they either disbelieve you, or feel uncomfortable; and in
either case tend to avoid you afterwards.
Bilbo Baggins, it is true, had soon returned to normal ways
(more or less), and though his reputation was never quite
restored, he became an accepted figure in the neighbourhood. He
was never perhaps again regarded as a 'safe hobbit', but he
was undoubtedly a 'warm' one. In some mysterious way he
appeared to have become more than comfortably off, in fact
positively wealthy; so naturally, he was on visiting terms with
all his neighbours and relatives (except, of course, the Sackville-
Bagginses). He did two more things that caused tongues to wag:
he got married when seventy-one (a little but not too late for a
hobbit), choosing a bride from the other side of the Shire, and
giving a wedding-feast of memorable splendour; he disappeared
(together with his wife) shortly before his hundred-and-eleventh
birthday, and was never seen again. The folk of Hobbiton and
Bywater were cheated of a funeral (not that they had expected his
for many a year yet), so they had a good deal to say. His residence,
his wealth, his position (and the dubious regard of the neigh-
bourhood) were inherited by his son Bingo, just before his own
birthday (which happened to be the same as his father's). Bingo
was, of course, a mere youngster of 39, who had hardly cut his
wisdom-teeth; but he at once began to carry on his father's
reputation for oddity: he never went into mourning for his
parents, and said he did not think they were dead. To the obvious
question: 'Where are they then?' he merely winked. He lived
alone, and was often away from home. He went about a lot with
the least well-behaved members of the Took family (his grand-
mother's people and his father's friends), and he was also fond of
some of the Brandybucks. They were his mother's relatives. She
was Primula Brandybuck (4) of the Brandybucks of Buckland, across
Brandywine River on the other side of the Shire and on the edge of
the Old Forest - a dubious region.(5) Folk in Hobbiton did not know



much about it, or about the Brandybucks either; though some had
heard it said that they were rich, and would have been richer, but
for a certain 'recklessness' - generosity, that is, if any came your