Page:Life and transactions of Mrs. Jane Shore (2).pdf/19

 19 was all that she considered necessary for her journey :- and on a fine April morning she left the home of her fathers, unobserved and unsuspected. A lingering look at her mother who lay still asleep, and whom she would fain have kissed awake, to beseech a blessing-and another look at her beloved cottage, as she turned the last winding of the road which did it, perhaps for ever, from her view, were the only swerves which her for- titude made in her bold and dangerous undertaking To trace out her progress to England, and latterly to Scotland, in search of the regiment to which Barclay belonged —interesting as it might be---would exceed the untended limits of this story. It was in Glasgow, in the middle of summer, that he first came in contact with the regiment. It had been long expected to enter that city, for the first time since the termination of the war; and the numerous relations and acquaintances of those belonging to it (for though professedly an Argyleshire regiment, the -- was chiefly composed of natives of Glasgow) had been loudly, like Mariette, looking for its arrival. Towards the af- ternoon of a delightful summer day, the drums sounding through that narrow street in the Gorbals which leads up to the old bridge, first announced its approach ; and Mariette stood, with many others, waiting, with infin- ite anxiety, for its appearance. The heavy drum was momently sounding louder and louder, and was heard even amidst the cheers which a warm hearted people bestowed upon a native and favourite regiment. Every peal vibrated on the heart of Mariette ; and as the blackening crowd which preceded the soldiers drew on, her fears and her hopes increased. Her knees shook violently, her lips turned pale and tremulous, and her bright eyes seemed to herself to have lost their power of vision. The sudden summons, however, of a stout heart, -and the determination of screening herself in the meantime, should he be there-recovered her greatly, when the regiment advanced. Still her gaze was eager and frightful as battalion after battalion passed before