Read it through once

The town of Middlemarch was sure to be informed that Mr. Bulstrode had decided to go to London on business when the first omnibus was seen to stop at his gate. People make more of a man’s going away than of his presence; it is as if absence helped you to see what a man’s share in your life had been. In small towns, indeed, the movement of a solitary man is a little more important than the movement of his fellows. In such places the inhabitants are knitted together by visible ties; each has a recognised place; each person's motion is a little event to which attention is paid.