I went to town with the design of doing a great deal. But I was so much deranged by the process of moving from my old Office to my new one that I could accomplish very little. I wrote a short letter to my father and that was all.1 His scheme is a plain one and if carried through will answer, but I distrust his perseverance.2 Returned to Quincy. My Mother appears inclined now to make the Journey. But I much fear her ability. She does not get up as she used to do.

Conversation with Mrs. Smith. Not the most discreet person to confide in but my Mother with her intimates never had secrets. My father wishes me to go on, attending to the House for the whole Winter. This is changing my object entirely and making me serve a purpose which I certainly do not intend. I offer to go, to put his affairs on a footing so that they may go on for the winter, and then to go again if necessary in the Spring and attend to the breaking up of the Establishment and its removal to Quincy. In this I can be useful but not in any other capacity. After that we are again independent and I imagine from that time permanently, for with this new arrangement, my family is excluded from the mansion, and this I do not for my own sake regret. Ovid in the evening.