He puzzled to know what this assault might mean; but apart from these unexpected circumstances attending her refusal, the final negative was all that mattered. That she believed him a libertine soon ceased to trouble Hartley. His anger swiftly vanished before the immediate interest of the future. Nothing remained but to follow his previous plans and depart. He had only waited for Rhoda and now the coast was clear. Before he reached home, he had finally determined to leave England early in the new year. *CHAPTER XI* *BAD NEWS OF MR. BOWDEN* Mrs. Stanbury’s habit of mind died hard, even after the truth concerning the Voice at Crazywell had been impressed upon her. Slowly she appreciated the great fact that neither her husband nor her son might longer be considered as under sentence of death; but often still she woke in fear or rose in gloom, while yet her mind retained only the past terror and forgot the more recent joy. Billy Screech had explained to Bartley; and since Bartley was of opinion that no real blame attached to anybody, and that the plot was perfectly reasonable in its original purpose--all things being fair in love--the matter soon blew over. Bart, indeed, declared that Mattacott and Billy ought to pay the doctor’s bill for his mother; but they were not of his mind, and Mr. Stanbury, who, despite stout assurances of indifference, felt really much relieved when the truth appeared, very gladly met this charge. The immediate result of the event was a decision on the part of Jane West. Bart, having safely emerged from these supernatural threats of extinction, found her in the most oncoming spirit, and they were now definitely engaged to be married. With the turn of another year this fact became generally known, and there fell a Sunday in late January when the party from ’Meavy Cot’ visited Coombeshead and assisted at a formal meal given in honour of Bart’s betrothed. David made efforts to rouse his mother-in-law from her invincible distrust--both of herself and her blood in the veins of the next generation. They talked apart after the meal, and she, as her custom was, doubted her son’s ability to fight the world successfully for a wife and possible children. "A very good son, I can assure you--never a better. But whether he’ll prove a husband of any account, I’m sure I couldn’t say," she murmured. "Of course he will," answered the other. "You don’t know what a clever chap Bart is. Jane’s a very lucky woman; and she knows it well enough, and her family know it well enough, even if you don’t."