Having only just introduced himself to a hobbit-lass at the Prancing Pony, Ganiago found her seizing his wrist with a cry of "A-ha!" and dragging him roughly out the door.
"I should have known it was you, Ganiago Puddifoot! Your gammer and your brothers have been looking for you! Do you know who I am?"
Ganiago tried to escape the unfamiliar hobbit's grasp, but the grip of her hands was like an iron shackle. He shook his head no as he was half marched, half dragged down the stairs of the inn and out onto the street.
"Well, master Puddifoot, I am your cousin Calluna Mugwort of Staddle, and you have led me on quite the chase. Your gammer wants you home for Yule!"
Ganiago staggered along, sucking in a breath. "I... I do not know-"
He was cut off. "You know full well, mister! You vanished off into the blue without so much as a good-bye! Think of your poor gammer! It's a good thing I caught you here before you could go getting yourself drownded!"
A loud and uncomfortable walk led him out the gates of Bree, along a road to the village of Staddle, and finally up to the doorstep of a cheerful little hobbit-hole. The name of Mugwort was on the letter-box. Ganiago was pulled roughly over the threshold, sat down in a gigantic red armchair, and forcefully served a pastry. Calluna continued to rant at him as she went about the house.
"You ought to know better at your age! To think that such an irresponsible hobbit has his name in our gammer's will! You might get a fortune lost or stolen, or spend it away in Michel Delving on something frivolous! Your share ought to go to ME, a perfectly respectable young lass making an honest living in Bree-land! Do you know that your brother ran all the way here from Frogmorton, in record time, to tell me you had vanished? He was worried sick, he thought you had fallen in a ditch or had a branch dropped on you, or something even worse! And with the Yule feast coming soon too, good gracious..."
Ganiago ate his pastry and slipped into slumber in the soft armchair, dreaming of his gammer's rage-filled face as his cousin continued to drone on and on.
He awoke to the morning sun shining through an Eastern window and onto his face. He heard Calluna in the adjoining room, which he presumed to be the kitchen from the sounds and smells coming out of it. Standing up drowsily and not entirely remembering the events of the previous evening, he wandered through the doorway and stopped to admire what remained of a pie that his cousin had seemingly demolished.
"Ah, you're awake," she said, setting down a mug of tea. Ganiago moved for the pie, but Calluna stood up and grabbed his arm again, bringing back all the unhappy memories of the previous night. "No time for that now, your gammer will want you back as soon as possible. Come along! You have a lot of explaining to do!" He cast a forlorn look at the pie as his cousin headed out of the room with him in tow.
They marched through the entry hall, under a portrait of the Mugwort-Puddifoot family with the gammer's unpleasant face front and center. Ganiago was dragged past the hat rack which his bag of belongings was hanging from, and he reached for it as Calluna reached to unlock the door.
She only dropped her grip for a second, but it was time enough for the nimble Ganiago, who snatched his bag and burst through the just-unlocked door. He slung his bag over his shoulder and vaulted over the garden hedge as his cousin dashed after him, her hands barely missing his shoulder. They dashed under the eaves of Chetwood and continued along through the forest until Ganiago found a bush to hide himself in. Calluna called after him and dashed around for some time, but eventually let up and headed for home, muttering something about irresponsibility and an inheritance. Ganiago unstrapped his walking stick from his pack and hiked Northward, avoiding Staddle and all the roads and paths leading out of it. By eleven his stomach began to complain about his missed breakfast, and, happening to pass through the region of Combe, he rushed to the Comb and Wattle inn and ordered a large cherry pie and a cup of tea.
