THE WARDEN, published in 1855, is the story of reform run amok. The Reverend Septimus Harding, a gentle church functionary, is made precentor of the local cathedral and warden of a charitable foundation maintaining 12 elderly church laborers. The old men are kept in very modest circumstances while the residual income goes to Harding. Even in those decorous times there was a thing called \“conflict of interest.\”