It was a call to train himself in manliness and self-reliance. It
changed him from the unstable reed he once had been, and helped him
to take one steady and consistent view of the trial required of him
and of Mary, and then to act upon it resolutely and submissively.
With Mary gone, he cared little what became of him until her letters
could arrive; and his father, with more attention to his supposed
benefit than to his wishes, carried him at once, without returning
home, to a round of visits among all his acquaintance most likely to
furnish a distracting amount of Christmas gaieties. In the midst of
these, there occurred a vacancy in the representation of a borough
chiefly under the influence of Sir Miles Oakstead; and, as it was
considered expedient that he should be brought into Parliament, his
father repaired with him at once to Oakstead, and involved him in all
the business of the election. On his success, he went with his
father to London for the session, and this was all that his friends
at Northwold knew of him. He wrote hurried notes to James or to Mr.
Holdsworth on necessary affairs connected with his farm and
improvements, mentioning facts instead of feelings, and promising to
write to Aunt Catharine when he should have time; but the time did
not seem to come, and it was easy to believe that his passiveness of
will, increased by the recent stroke, had caused him to be hurried
into a condition of involuntary practical activity.

Mary, meanwhile, was retracing her voyage, in the lull of spirits
which, after long straining, had nothing to do but to wait in
patience, bracing themselves for a fresh trial. Never suffering
herself, at sea, her first feelings, after the final wrench of
parting, were interrupted by the necessity of attending to her
friend, a young mother, with children enough to require all the