"But do you not think, Mr. Mulciber," Hannah inquired jovially of the wizard, "that one must make the distinction between stubbornness and bull-headedness? I am quite sure that what I remark upon in myself—and what would, in a man, be considered merely stubborn—is bull-headedness, I am sorry to say."

That same bull-headedness had 'saved' her, in a way, from the unpleasantness, but also made many a barrier more challenging to overcome than it might otherwise have been.