Gradually the eloping couple began to feel that their secret was secure and to cease worrying about it.

But Caleb called no more at the Parker cottage and when he and Hannah met they bowed, but did not stop to converse.
Miss Timpson's sudden departure from the High Cliff House caused less talk than Thankful had feared.

It happened that the "cousin Sarah" to whose home Miss Abigail had fled, was seized with an attack of grippe and this illness was accepted as the cause of the schoolmistress's move.
And Miss Timpson herself kept her word; she told no one of the "warning" she had received.

So Thankful was spared the gossip and questioning concerning the snoring ghost in the back bedroom.

For so much she was grateful, but she missed the weekly room rent and the weekly board money.