Sad was the heart of the dreamer as she wandered for the last time amid these never-to-be-forgotten haunts.  Tears dimmed her lovely eyes and trickled down her cheeks.  The scene was too sacred for other eyes.  She had started off alone, wishing to pay the last tribute of respect to her silent friends in a manner becoming the solemnity of the occasion.

We leave Mary Douglas in her sylvan retreat and follow other members of the family in their tender leave-taking.

Miss Douglas echoes the same spirit as her sister, but with less poetic eloquence and fervent inspiration.  She looks upon the faces of many dear young friends and feels a deep pang of sorrow as their tears mingle with her own.  John Douglas, no longer a mischievous, romping, and noisy boy, but an engaging and attractive young gentleman, ready to enter the army, takes a hearty leave of his former schoolmates and companions with sincere regret, bearing with him their united wishes for his future welfare and success in life.

It would be an endless task to enumerate the bitter repinings and tender leave-taking between each member of the family, and the numerous hosts of sincere friends who pressed around them, eager to wish God speed on the journey.  Suffice to say, amid the last parting word, the last pressure of the hand, and the last fond embrace, the beloved family of Sir Howard Douglas took their last glimpse of Fredericton, dimmed by their fast falling tears, as the steamer slowly passed from the wharf, whence issued the plaintive strains of “Auld Lang Syne,” to be borne ever after in the memory of those who listened to the last parting tribute wafted from the shores of Fredericton.

CHAPTER XVII.

REGRETS.

Though most of those in whom we have taken such deep interest have left the Province far behind, we cannot bear the thought of following them until more fond ties be broken that binds them to our native home.  Ah! were we to consider every fond tie, there could be no hope for separation.  There are ties which bind the heart as lovingly as those of friendship, there are ties which cling while we breath the inspiration of every page within the universal volumes of Heaven’s choicest productions—­the great book of nature—­the teacher and refiner of the soul.  This is the tie which clings to us through the medium of holy thought, inspiring, elevating and cheering.

Among those who most deeply felt the departure of the inmates of Government House, none were more reserved in their demonstrations than Captain Trevelyan, who calmly watched each successive step in the order of preparation with a quiet reserve that to the uninitiated would appear as void of feeling.