Specially chartered ships had carried material and men to the island--and had carried the men away again, for not one of them remained behind after the completion of the job.
There was not a contrivance or a convenience known to modern architecture that was not included in the construction of this latter-day shadow of antiquity.
It was, to step on ahead of the story as politely as possible, fully a week before Lord and Lady Deppingham realised all that their new home meant in the way of scientific improvement and, one might say, research.
It was so spacious, so comprehensive of domain, so elaborate, that one must have been weeks in becoming acquainted with its fastnesses, if that word may be employed.

To what uses Taswell Skaggs and John Wyckholme could have put this vast, though splendid waste, the imagination cannot grasp.

Apartments fit for a king abounded; suites which took one back to the luxuries of Marie Antoinette were common; banquet halls, ball rooms, reception halls, a chapel, and even a crypt were to be found if one undertook a voyage of discovery.

Perhaps it is safe to say that none of these was ever used by the original owners, with the exception of the crypt; John Wyckholme reposed there, alone in his dignity, undisturbed by so little as the ghost of a tradition.
The terrace, wide and beautiful, was the work of a famous landscape gardener.

Engineers had come out from England to install the most complete water and power plant imaginable.