Then the wonderful
house began to rise on the plot of land at Bleakridge. Denry had general
charge of it, but always subject to erratic and autocratic instructions
from London. Thanks to Denry, who, since the historic episode at
Llandudno, had remained very friendly with the Cotterill family, Mr
Cotterill had the job of building the house; the plans came from London.
And though Mr Cecil Wilbraham proved to be exceedingly watchful against
any form of imposition, the job was a remunerative one for Mr Cotterill,
who talked a great deal about the originality of the residence. The town
judged of the wealth and importance of Mr Cecil Wilbraham by the fact
that a person so wealthy and important as Denry should be content to act
as his agent. But then the Wilbrahams had been magnates in the Bursley
region for generations, up till the final Wilbraham smash in the late
seventies. The town hungered to see those huge moustaches and that
peculiar eye. In addition to Denry, only one person had seen the madman,
and that person was Nellie Cotterill, who had been viewing the
half-built house with Denry one Sunday morning when the madman had most
astonishingly arrived upon the scene, and after a few minutes vanished.
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