Nor is it likely she would have now given in, for immovableness was one of the most marked of her characteristics, had she not been so broken by mental suffering, that she did not care much about anything, least of all about herself.
Innumerable were the instructions in propriety of behaviour which she gave the boys in prospect of this visit.

The probability being that they would behave just as well as at home, these instructions were considerably unnecessary, for Mrs.Falconer was a strict enforcer of all social rules.

Scarcely less unnecessary were the directions she gave as to the conduct of Betty, who received them all in erect submission, with her hands under her apron.

She ought to have been a young girl instead of an elderly woman, if there was any propriety in the way her mistress spoke to her.

It proved at least her own belief in the description she had given of her to Miss Lammie.
'Noo, Betty, ye maun be dooce.