he had moved down to kittery in mid-february , needing more than anything else to get away from pownal , from the boxful of mail each day , the reporters who had begun to find their way to the house in ever-increasing numbers , the nervous women with the wounded eyes who had just 'dropped by ' because 'they just happened to be in the neighborhood ' ( one of those who had just dropped by because she just happened to be in the neighborhood had a maryland license plate ; another was driving a tired old ford with arizona tags ) .