ed 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.
The building of the house strengthened greatly the friendship between
Denry and the Cotterills. Yet Denry neither liked Mr Cotterill nor
trusted him. The next incident in these happening was that
Mrs Machin received notice from the London firm to quit her
four-and-sixpence-a-week cottage. It seemed to her that not merely
Brougham Street, but the world, was coming to an end. She was very angry
with Denry for not protecting her more successfully. He was Mr
Wilbraham's agent, he collected the rent, and it was his duty to guard
his mother from unpleasantness. She observed, however, that he was
remarkably disturbed by the notice, and he assured her that Mr Wilbraham
had not consulted him in the matter at all. He wrote a letter to London,
which she signed, demanding the reason of this absurd notice flung at an
ancient and perfect tenant. The reply was that Mr Wilbraham intended to
pull the houses down, beginning with Mrs Machin's, and rebuild.

"Pooh!" said Denry. "Don't you worry your head, mother; I shall arrange
it. He'll be down here soon to see his new house--it's practically
finished, and the furniture is coming in--and I'll just talk to him."

But Mr Wilbraham did not come, the explanation doubtless being that he
was mad. On the other hand, fresh notices came with amazing frequency.
Mrs Machin just handed them over to Denry. And then Denry received a
telegram to say that Mr Wilbraham would be at his new house that night
and wished to see Denry there. Unfortunately, on the same day, by the
afternoon post, while Denry was at his offices, there arrived a sort of
supreme and ultimate notice from London to Mrs Machin, and it was on
blue paper. It stated, baldly, that as Mrs Machin had failed to comply
with all the previous notices, had, inde