The Reverend Tobias Whitmore was surprised. As he sat in the gently jolting coach, he realized that he was genuinely looking forward to a springtime social afternoon in the gardens of his mother’s cousin’s husband, a Canon of the Church of England. This was an unexpected emotion, since mortal terror might have been more appropriate, due to the presence of his beady-eyed mama who wanted him to marry profitably and several young ingénues eager for a ring on their finger.
It had been a bleak winter for Tobias, in his role of Vicar of St. Margaret’s in the town of Stratton-over-Wye. He had been kept busy with the more difficult areas of his ministry. There had been more than his fair share of sitting beside sickbeds and sadly, presiding over the funerals of those too weak to cope with the bla
