It was clear that no conviction could be obtained while this story held the field and in due course Mrs.Ballantyne was acquitted.

Of Thresk's return to the tent just before leaving the camp nothing was said.

Thresk himself did not mention it and the counsel for the Crown had no hint which could help him to elicit it.
Thus the case ended.

The popular heroine of a criminal trial loses, as all observers will have noticed, her crown of romance the moment she is set free; and that good fortune awaited Stella Ballantyne.

Thresk called the next day upon Jane Repton and was coldly told that Stella had already gone from Bombay.