“Lotho! Have you seen my cameo on the black silk ribbon?”
“The one you took from the Proudfoot smial? No, Mother.”
“Can you believe that Olo had the gall to accuse me to my face of taking it?”
“Well, you did, after all.”
“You are going out?”
“Yes.”
“You aren’t planning to see that Chubbs lass, are you? She’s no better than she ought to be, you know. She’s only interested in what you might give her, not in you as a gentlehobbit.”
Uncertain, Lotho fingered the cameo in his pocket, very glad his mother couldn’t see through the cloth.