Hench turned and fled, skirting the flaming trees and getting round to where the police and villagers were by slipping along the park wall. Blackened and burnt, dizzy and faint, he staggered into the open space, where all watched the great bonfire. Vane rushed forward and caught him in his arms. "Are you hurt--are you hurt?" "No. I'm all right. But Spruce----!" He gasped at the memory of the horror. "My man," said the police officer. "What of him?" "Dead!" breathed Hench faintly, and then fell unconscious to the ground, while Parley Wood, with a noise like the roaring of many waters, vanished for ever in flames and smoke. CHAPTER XXI THE SUNSHINE OF LIFE The discovery that Spruce was the murderer of Squire Evans, the burning of Parley Wood, and the consequent death of the criminal, were wholly unexpected events. They descended on the Cookley villagers like so many bolts from the blue, and naturally caused a very great commotion. So far as the woodland was concerned, nothing remained but a vast area of grey ashes, wherein multitudinous smouldering stumps pricked up here and there. Luckily the trees of the Grange park were untouched, as the fire had not reached across the considerable space which, like a wide roadway, divided Hench's property from the miniature forest. Also, the violent wind blowing from the south had swept the flames northward, long-side the brick wall girdling the demesne. But considerable damage had been wrought, as Parley Wood was dear to many artists, and they, as well as the villagers, lamented the blotting out of this beauty-spot. But, as some people said, perhaps it was just as well, since the murder of Madoc Evans had given the wood an evil reputation. These philosophical individuals, however, were in the minority.