I was born on the 2nd September, 1886, in a small, dull, country town. When I say the town was dull, I mean, of course,that the inhabitants were unenterprising, for in itself Muddleton was a picturesque place, and though it laboured under the usual disadvantage of a dearth of bachelors and a superfluity of spinsters, it might have been pleasant enough had it not been a favourite resort for my kith and kin.