Dr. John Forbes sighed as he lay down a well ruffled newspaper upon his armrest. Once again, another southern preacher had been brought low, for as a famed proclaimer of family values and tee totalism this gentleman had been caught with a mistress and a mountain of cocaine.

“Hypocrisy” Dr. Forbes pondered, “is seen as a wretched sin. But is it in a sense a virtue?”

He spoke to his audience of fellow professors lounging around in the staff room, well rested on good tea. If his lectures weren’t listened to, they were at least a comfortable background noise.