Steele, a Covenanter, shot by Captain
Creichton.
native stock much both of its good and evil properties.
No one could say of her that she was the life
and spirit of the family, though, in my mother's
time, she directed all family affairs; her look was
austere and gloomy, and when she was not displeased
with you, you could only find it out by her
silence. If there was cause for complaint, real or
imaginary, Christie was loud enough. She loved
my mother with the devoted attachment of a younger
sister, but she was as jealous of her favour to any
one else as if she had been the aged husband of a
coquettish wife, and as severe in her reprehensions
as an abbess over her nuns. The command which
she exercised over her, was that, I fear, of a strong
and determined over a feeble and more nervous
disposition; and though it was used with rigour,
yet, to the best of Christie Steele's belief, she was
urging her mistress to her best and most becoming
course, and would have died rather than have recommended
any other. The attachment of this
woman was limited to the family of Croftangry,
for she had few relations; and a dissolute cousin,
whom late in life she had taken as a husband, had
long left her a widow.
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