[Dunwen]

While she was thankful not to have been shooed out of the kitchen immediately, Widow Rosebank was surprised when Ginger made such a to-do about welcoming her help, instead of waiting for the Cook to give permission. Such doings in a hobbit kitchen were rare as hen's teeth! She herself didn't make a move until the Cook accepted her offer to help with the washing up.

"I'd be happy to help," she replied with a smile. As the Cook left with Ginger -- the girl obviously wanted to talk about her with Miz Bunce, probably worried that she might complain about their small collision upstairs -- she took the apron offered by one of the hobbits. The widow tied on the bright yellow apron, pleased to see that it was human sized. Then she moved to the dish-laden wash tub. Adding more hot water from the kettle, she picked up a dishcloth and slung a towel over her shoulder. Luckily, she was short for a human, scarcely over five feet tall, so felt fairly comfortable moving about a hobbit-sized kitchen. After carefully clearing a space near the washtub for clean dishes, Widow Rosebank got to work.

As she washed and dried, she introduced herself properly to the other two hobbits, and found out their names were Buttercup and Ruby. Both hobbit-lasses chattered excitedly about the party to be held that evening as they went in and out of the kitchen, but did manage to ask a couple of polite questions about the widow's presence in the Shire. They both pricked up their ears upon learning that she was a drygoods merchant. In turn the widow learned a bit more about the Green Dragon and Bywater. She worked steadily and soon had a neat pile of spotlessly clean dry dishes ready to be used again. As she added more hot water to the dish tub and began washing another batch of dishes, Widow Rosebank waited for the Cook to return and rehearsed what she wanted to say.