Extended Epilogue
Gilbert ran ahead along his favorite path through the Winterleigh Woods. Sunlight striped the trail, filtered through the interlaced branches of beech, elm, birch and oak. The traps and hazards had long since been removed. The conflagration that had consumed the old Winterleigh had burned away any traces of the Phantom in the public mind.
Days later, Simon Hale had shown Damien a charcoal sketch given to the scandal sheets. It showed a hooded figure emerging from a raging inferno, carrying two men. The headline had been Hero Duke Braves Inferno!