When it became known--chiefly through the agency of Mrs. Mellin--that a baronet was living at Maranatha the excitement was very great. It appeared strange to one and all that a titled and wealthy gentleman should leave the pleasures of London to take up his residence in a dull place such as Hedgerton truly was. Originally a rude fishing village, it had of late years been exploited by the jerry-builder, so that it might be improved into a watering-place and a play-ground for trippers. A huddle of quaint houses was buried in a hollow by the shore and faced the estuary of the Thames into which stretched for no great distance a rough stone pier. Sometimes floating on water and sometimes stranded on mud were many fishing-smacks, which went out regularly to the harvest of the sea, while river steamers occasionally called to discharge cargoes or to land passengers. Since Hedgerton had been dignified by the name of a watering-place the steamers called more frequently, especially in summer, and on the whole did fairly well. But somehow they did not bring to Hedgerton the prosperity anticipated by the jerry-builder. The place did not thrive in spite of doctors' recommendations, cheap fares, and lavish advertisement. Above the hollow wherein nestled the original town stretched a flat, well-wooded country, dotted sparsely with houses, and there was a railway station at Redleigh, three miles away. New Hedgerton, as it was called, consisted of many hastily-built bungalows extending in a lean line along the cliffs, but those were occupied only in summer, and therefore remained empty for the greater part of the year. There was an asphalt esplanade running spaciously from east to west in front of these bungalows, a small bandstand, and a crude hall for public entertainments roofed with galvanised iron. At intervals roads branched at right angles from the esplanade, passing between houses old and new to run finally through woodlands or between the hedges which divided vast meadows from the highway. In spring and summer the country looked very picturesque with the foliage of trees, the blossom of orchards, and the rainbow hue of multitudinous flowers, but the change was marked in autumn and winter. Then the balmy air grew raw and chill; there were damp mists overlying the land morning and evening, while the lack of life gave the place a melancholy aspect. At the fall of the year the inhabitants of the district retired into their houses like rabbits in burrows, as the climate of this particular part of England did not tempt them to lead an out-of-door life. On the whole, therefore, Hedgerton was not a desirable locality either for a pleasure-seeker or for an invalid in summer.