The person who advised her to go to the Reverend Augustin Ambrose knew that there was not a better man to whom she could apply.

She had found what she wanted, a sort of deserted village where she would never be obliged to meet any one, since there was absolutely no society; she had found a good man upon whom she felt she could rely in case of further difficulty; and she had not come upon false pretences, for she had told her whole story quite frankly.

For a woman who was naturally timid she had done a thing requiring considerable courage, and she was astonished at her own boldness after she had done it.

But in her peaceful retreat, she reflected that she could not possibly have left England, as many women in her position would have done, simply because the idea of exile was intolerable to her; she reflected also that if she had settled in any place where there was any sort of society her story would one day have become known, and that if she had spent years in studying her situation she could not have done better than in going boldly to the vicar of Billingsfield and explaining her sad position to him.

She had found a haven of rest after many months of terrible anxiety and she hoped that she might end her days in peace and in the spot she had chosen.