Two hundred and seventy-five steps

There were two hundred and seventy-five steps to the ringing chamber of the Minster’s south-west tower, and Margaret Oddie counted every one of them. At sixty-three she did not climb stairs so much as negotiate with them.

On the hundred and fortieth step she found a green cashbox wedged behind a stone ledge. It was the vestry committee’s cashbox. She knew because she had counted the Christmas collection into it for fifteen years.