While Harriet was sick over Shelley's involvement with Mary Godwin, Mary was over the moon. Letting Harriet stew over the matter (she was then about four months pregnant), Shelley and Mary, together with Claire28, now that war in Europe had come to an end, determined to go to the continent. So off they went for a six week trip. They left, it would appear without taking their leave of anyone in particular. Shelley arranged for a carriage and the girls (Mary was seventeen, Claire was sixteen) slipped out of their parents' house and off they drove to Dover. After a windy trip over the channel they arrived at Calais. Through France they traveled and then on to Switzerland. From Switzerland Shelley wrote Harriet inviting her to come to Switzerland where he would find her a "sweet retreat among the mountains." By September the 13th the three were back in London. Shelley was without money and needed some so that he might rent a place for himself and the girls; he went to Harriet and she gave him £20 to tie him over.29

That November, 1814, Harriet gave birth to her second child, a son, Charles Bysshe. Though a week passed before Shelley was to hear the news, it was an event which drew him to Harriet's side. The meeting was unhappy. No doubt the older and scolding sister, Eliza, was hovering in the background.30 Shelley was soon back with Mary who then was but two months off from delivery of her child by Shelley.31 The new year brought news of Shelley's grandfather's death. The rich and eccentric Sir Bysshe was eighty-four at his death. Though it is less than clear, Sir Bysshe's death brought Shelley that much closer to his inheritance. It was at this time that the lawyers were brought in so that the father might settle with the son. A deal was struck whereby Shelley was to give up his rights to the family estate in exchange for a tidy monthly sum to continue throughout his life. Harriet was to get £200 a year, and a further and immediate payment was made to get rid of her outstanding bills.32

So the year of 1815 passed, and in that year, for Shelley, three matters were put on a level footing: his separation with Harriet was formalized, his financial future was fixed, and his relationship with Mary was stabilized. The turmoil in Shelley's life had ebbed. It will be remembered, too, that in 1815, Napoleon was finally defeated and the long years of war came to an end. Unemployed ex-servicemen walked the streets. Markets slumped for lack of demand. Men in all walks of life began to agitate for political reform. Shelley who was now coming into his own as a poet, wrote Alastor, "a masterpiece in blank verse."33 The work, published in 1816, reflecting a more tempered view of things, condemned the self-satisfaction of the idealist who dreamt of the perfect society but who were powerless to change the conditions with which the poor and the disadvantaged were afflicted, seemingly, in all events.