Excerpt from the book...I suppose that I, Humphrey Arbuthnot, should begin this history inwhich Destiny has caused me to play so prominent a part, with some shortaccount of myself and of my circumstances.I was born forty years ago in this very Devonshire village in which Iwrite, but not in the same house. Now I live in the Priory, an ancientplace and a fine one in its way, with its panelled rooms, its beautifulgardens where, in this mild climate, in addition to our own, flourishso many plants which one would only expect to find in countries thatlie nearer to the sun, and its green, undulating park studded with greattimber trees. The view, too, is perfect; behind and around the richDevonshire landscape with its hills and valleys and its scarped facesof red sandstone, and at a distance in front, the sea. There are littletowns quite near too, that live for the most part on visitors, but theseare so hidden away by the contours of the ground that from the Prioryone cannot see them. Such is Fulcombe where I live, though for obviousreasons I do not give it its real name.