Rising at the usual hour, he told himself that this would not do; to live on in this way was mere moral suicide; he resolved to run down to St.Neots, whence, if his mother were capable of the journey, she and Jane might go for a week or two to the seaside.

So, having packed his travelling bag, he walked to the shop, and arranged with Allchin for a week's absence, greatly to the assistant's satisfaction.

Before noon he was at The Haws.

But the idea of a family expedition to the seaside could not be carried out: Mrs.Warburton was not strong enough to leave home, and Jane had just invited a friend to come and spend a week with them.
Disguising as best he could his miserable state of mind and body, Will stayed for a couple of days.

The necessity for detailed lying about his affairs in London--lying which would long ago have been detected, but for the absolute confidence of his mother and sister, and the retired habits of their life--added another cause of unrest to those already tormenting him, and he was glad to escape into solitude.