About this story
At the new palace you meet the bishop's formidable wife and his chaplain, Mr Obadiah Slope, whose attention to you worries your family more than his sermons do. Slope's private note asks to discuss restoring your father's position, and the archdeacon proposes a name of his own, Francis Arabin, just as an unannounced visitor arrives asking for your father by name.
How it opens
The cathedral bell tolled while winter rain darkened every stone in the close.
Old Bishop Grantly had died before his son could inherit more than disappointment.
Septimus HardingThe ministry has named Dr Proudie to Barchester, not the archdeacon.
Choose
Will Archdeacon Grantly lose his position?
What manner of bishop is Dr Proudie?