Earthly Bounties

Chapter 1

Chapter 1Stratton-Over-Wye, Herefordshire, West of England, 1779

Tobias wriggled on the seat of the coach, trying vainly to find a soft spot in the worn upholstery so he could doze for at least part of the uncomfortable journey. Across from him, his lovely Lucy caught his eye. She smiled briefly at him while listening to the voluble farmer’s spouse seated next to her, giving seemingly endless hints and tips about preserving summer season fruit and vegetables.

He mused on how wonderful a vicar’s wife she had become in less than two years of marriage, as she nodded her head obligingly to the fellow passenger’s somewhat convoluted discourse. Admiring her graceful profile, he thought, as always, what a very lucky man he was.

He almost had to pinch himself that they were going away together from the vicarage for an entire week. With every passing, bouncing mile, Tobias felt himself relax and become more carefree.

This idea for the trip had come out of the blue. It was proposed by their family friend, Meg. The closeness as a trio had been cemented during the spring, when at Lucy’s suggestion, and both ladies’ agreement, Meg had taken care of Tobias’ bodily needs for some weeks, while Lucy was too tired to do anything else but sleep in the marital bed.

Following these episodes, once Lucy had regained her strength enough to welcome her husband’s advances, Meg had been a regular visitor over the summer. She called into the vicarage most weeks, merely to gossip with them and play with their baby son and her godson, Jamie, when not obliged by any commitment with the gentleman who was currently paying for her favors.

Meg had mentioned in passing that her bubbly bosom companion, Betty, had been hired as an opera dancer (her previous profession) at the Theater Royal in Bath for the early autumn season. On Betty’s part, Meg related that this change of scene was simply a favor to help out the company, as one of their number had unexpectedly eloped or was stricken with consumption or something.

Over the latter part of the summer, Jamie, now ten months old, suddenly found his feet. He had subsequently discovered the joy of running at top speed into immovable objects as soon as his parents’ backs were turned. He was even testing the mettle of his nursery maid, Matilda, who came daily to the vicarage to commandeer her charge.

At fourteen years of age, she was one of the oldest of a vast family and had a wealth of experience in racing after fast-disappearing toddlers. All the same, Jamie kept all his doting attendants on their toes.

It was a relaxed time of year in the parish. The harvest was nearly in, Michaelmas was a few weeks away, and it was far too early to think ahead for the major Christian festivals of Advent or Christmas. Also, as not many parishioners required visiting during this period, apart from long and usually unnecessary meetings with Mr. Eels the churchwarden, Tobias was free to spend more time at home.

In between writing sermons and catching up with clerical correspondence, he did his best to help entertain Jamie while Lucy ran the household. However, he did detect that she was looking weary. This had not escaped Meg’s notice either.

One afternoon, the three of them were in the vicarage parlor, with Jamie the center of attention, rolling around the floor between them, laughing. The adults were strategically placed, alert for an escape bid, when Meg exclaimed suddenly, “Why don’t you go away for a few days?”

Lucy blinked and said, “What?”

While Tobias added, “Where would we go?”

Tickling a chuckling Jamie, Meg replied, “Why not Bath? I heard from Betty that some spare rooms are going in a theatrical lodging house. The actors who were staying there have been hired for a play in Bristol and are about to move on. So, the place is all paid up and lying empty.”

Tobias and Lucy looked at each other.

“Well, my old curate always says to me he could help out with the odd service if needs be…” Tobias began.

“…And my mother has been trying to get us to leave Jamie with her all summer,” Lucy continued.

“So why not go when you have the chance?” Meg chimed in. “You’ve got free lodgings right in the center of Bath. All you need is to pay for your fares and food and any entertainment. Go and have some fun,” she said, adeptly catching a chortling Jamie as he tried to wriggle past her and disappear into the great unknown.

When planted, the seed of an intention had grown rapidly. Once consulted, Lucy’s mother agreed immediately to the design. Lucy reported to Tobias that Mrs. Holbourne was delighted to have her grandson to herself without his parents interfering in a thoroughly ruinous spoiling. Matilda, who was accompanying her young charge so that he did not exhaust his grandparents into an early grave, was thrilled to be going on her holidays as she put it.

Meg was as good as her word and wrote to Betty to secure the rooms for the young couple.

After a brief consultation, Tobias’ competent former curate assured him he was happy to oversee St. Margaret’s for the brief period.

Those practicalities out of the way, Lucy got on with the most pressing of her concerns, the refurbishment of her wardrobe. Once Jamie was tucked up in bed of an evening, Lucy brought down her better gowns to the parlor to judge which trimmings were deemed too dowdy for such a fashionable resort as Bath and needed to be replaced by those more á la mode.

“After all,” she remarked to Tobias, while she ruthlessly ripped off a length a ribbon from a gown, “I may be a country vicar’s wife, but that doesn’t mean I have to look like one.”