Tobias let out a heartfelt sigh. Having taken over the parish of St. Margaret’s in the prosperous market town of Stratton-over-Wye a year previously, he ought to be happy with his lot, he reasoned to himself.
He had been welcomed as a new broom (not altogether unexpectedly, since the previous incumbent had been so elderly, his actual death made little difference to his activities) and had rather disconcerted himself by his efficiency. He had tailored his sermons to his patron’s tastes, allowed the ladies of the parish to carry on doing what they did while giving a vague impression of authority and unexpectedly persuaded the comfortably wealthy to give a bit more generously to the poor of the town. He even had a curate of his own to give instructions to.
With such a full life, he should b
