Jackson; and to think that a man, distinguished above all by
stubborn truthfulness, should have been brought up to such
dissimulation. But this is of course unavoidable in life; it did
no harm to Jenkin; and whether he got harm or benefit from a so
early acquaintance with violent and hateful scenes, is more than I
can guess. The experience, at least, was formative; and in judging
his character it should not be forgotten. But Mrs. Jackson was not
the only stranger in their gates; the Captain's sister, Aunt Anna
Jenkin, lived with them until her death; she had all the Jenkin
beauty of countenance, though she was unhappily deformed in body
and of frail health; and she even excelled her gentle and
ineffectual family in all amiable qualities. So that each of the
two races from which Fleeming sprang, had an outpost by his very
cradle; the one he instinctively loved, the other hated; and the
life-long war in his members had begun thus early by a victory for
what was best.
We can trace the family from one country place to another in the
south of Scotland; where the child learned his taste for sport by
riding home the pony from the moors.
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