But there was no one else in sight.

For Farlingford was half depopulated, and it was tea-time.

Across the river lay the marshes, unbroken by tree or hedge, barren of even so much as a hut.

In the distance, hazy and grey in the eye of the North Sea, a lighthouse stood dimly, like a pillar of smoke.

To the south--so far as the eye could pierce the sea haze--marshes.