'' Her demand was
never refused, though granted in many cases with
a kind of struggle between compassion and aversion
in some of those to whom she applied, which
was in others qualified by fear. The share she had
had in occasioning the death of Allan Breack Cameron,
which must probably involve that of her
own son, was not accurately known; but, from a
knowledge of her violent passions and former habits
of life, no one doubted that in one way or other
she had been the cause of the catastrophe; and
Hamish Bean was considered, in the slaughter
which he had committed, rather as the instrument
than as the accomplice of his mother.
This general opinion of his countrymen was of
little service to the unfortunate Hamish. As his
captain, Green Colin, understood the manners and
habits of his country, he had no difficulty in collecting
from Hamish the particulars accompanying his
supposed desertion, and the subsequent death of
the non-commissioned officer. He felt the utmost
compassion for a youth, who had thus fallen a victim
to the extravagant and fatal fondness of a parent.
But he had no excuse to plead which could rescue
his unhappy recruit from the doom, which military
discipline and the award of a court-martial denounced
against him for the crime he had committed.
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