Fred decides to return to university and prepare for examinations after his illness and financial troubles have left him uncertain about his future. Camden Farebrother advises him to study before term, not as a step toward the Church, but as a test of whether Fred can sustain effort and discover a suitable vocation.

Causes and Background

Fred has been away from home, which had become uncomfortable for him, and his physician, Tertius Lydgate, has told his mother that Fred should not yet resume studying. When Fred comes to Farebrother, he confides his misery over the debt he cannot repay to Caleb and Susan Garth. He cannot bear to visit them even to say goodbye, so he asks Farebrother to carry the news that he is leaving.

The debt weighs on Fred as more than a financial obligation: he believes it has injured the Garths by forcing them to part with money needed for other purposes. Caleb answers that the family has endured the pinch and recovered, and that new employment will improve their circumstances. His reassurance gives Farebrother welcome news to take back to Fred, but it does not erase Fred’s shame or settle what work he should pursue.

The Decision and Farebrother’s Advice

Farebrother reports that Fred intends to try again for his degree and go up to study before term. He explicitly declines to urge Fred to enter the Church. In his view, passing his examinations would provide evidence that Fred possesses energy and determination, even though Fred remains unsure what other course to take.

The plan is therefore provisional: university study offers a practical test, not proof that Fred has found his calling. It may also please his father for the present. Farebrother promises to try to reconcile Walter Vincy to the possibility that his son will ultimately choose another line of life, recognizing that Fred frankly considers himself unsuited to be a clergyman. Farebrother’s advice reflects his concern that a man should not take the consequential step of choosing the wrong profession.

The Garths and Fred’s Sense of Obligation

Farebrother has known Fred since he was fourteen and feels at home in the Vincy household, where he regards the children almost as nephews and nieces. That familiarity gives weight to his role as adviser and messenger: he understands both Fred’s distress and the family ties involved in his departure.

Caleb responds to the news of Fred’s departure by dismissing the debt as insignificant now that the Garths have recovered financially. His happiness has a concrete source: he is to manage the Freshitt and Tipton estates and perhaps a small property in Lowick, work that will allow him to make improvements rather than merely observe mismanagement from horseback. Susan explains that the family’s improved prospects will let them raise the boys well and keep Mary at home. Fred’s debt has thus been absorbed into a larger change in the Garths’ fortunes, though his anxiety about having harmed them remains part of the reason he cannot face them directly.

Significance

The decision marks a tentative move from drift toward effort, but it does not resolve Fred’s vocational uncertainty. Farebrother separates the discipline of study from the assumption that academic success must lead to clerical work, while his promised intervention with Walter Vincy opens the possibility of a different future. The episode places Fred’s return to university alongside the Garths’ recovery: their circumstances improve through Caleb’s practical employment, while Fred must still demonstrate that he can take responsibility for his own direction.