[Tevildo]

For one fleeting moment, Camille thought of replying that her name was 'Ferumbras Took" or something equally ridiculous. But she had a feeling no one would believe her.

Moreover, Camille knew she was in terrible trouble. For the past two years, she had tried to get honest work in the fields but except for harvest time when all hands were needed no one wanted to hire a young lass when they could get older, stronger helpers. She had been reduced to scrounging through trash piles and slipping an occasional apple off of peddlers' carts in order to help feed her brother and Ma. She couldn't say she was proud of that behavior but neither was she ashamed. As long as her mother didn't know and she could coax a tiny smile out of her brother, she would put up with the rest. Yet somehow this dress made things different. She had never taken anything like it before. Camille wished she had never touched the dress, and not only because the big dog had caught her hiding in the pantry. She felt ashamed and sad and a little scared. It wasn't right to steal another girl's frock just because she had none.

Camille vowed to take her punishment bravely. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Someone had told her that prisoners in jail get fed an honest meal. But at the same time, Camille was determined not to let the Inn folk know that her mother and ailing brother were camped out in one of the deserted burrows that fringed the edge of Bywater Pond. Her family had been there nearly six months. They had nailed up boards and fixed the door so the dirty old hole was at least warm and dry when the weather turned cold or rainy. Her Ma came up every night to paw through the peelings and leftovers at the Dragon that got shoved outside into the compost pile. She didn't want them to lose all that.

Relaxing her grip on the bag, she pushed it into the arms of the nearest hobbit lady and explained, "'Scuse me ma'am. I'm a lass, not a laddie, and my name is Camille....Camille Hedgeburrow, to be precise. You'd best get the shiriff here quick. I've done something real awful, something I wish I hadn't done." The lass pointed a dirty finger in the direction of the bulging bag.