It was at one time given to the church and became a monastery, then it was enlarged and improved to become the dwelling of the family of the Douglasses, which it is to this day.
But now the far cry from Red River reverberated across the Atlantic.

The startling succession of events of 1815 reached the Earl one after another.

It was late in the year when he made up his mind, but taking his Countess, his two daughters and his only son, Dunbar, a mere boy, and crossing the ocean he heard, on his arrival in New York, of the complete destruction by flight and expulsion of the people of his Colony.

About the end of October he reached Montreal, but winter was too near to allow him to travel up the lakes and through the wilds to Red River.
The winter in Montreal was long, but the atmosphere of opposition to Lord Selkirk in that city, the home of the Nor'-Westers, was more trying to him than the frost and snow.

His every movement was watched.