Re: Greening — I was chatting about this last week with sanguinity and I feel that Keith going out of his way to denigrate Greening on his appearance and mannerisms very interesting, as I think it speaks to his perceptions of his own masculinity in that moment. His reaction to Ewen's imprisonment was very emotional and in many ways irrational; he has thrown over his military duty, the one thing he is bound to, in favour of riding through a storm to his beloved former enemy — a reaction that could quite misogynistically be referred to as "womanish" behaviour. While his behaviour is not out of the realm for an 18th century man (good god they could be dramatic), in the hypermasculine world of the army I wouldn't be surprised if he suddenly feels very insecure over his own masculinity in that moment. Asserting himself as a man over Greening might make him feel more secure about himself, and more sure in his conviction that what he did was the sensible, rational thing to do. It is also possible to read that he is growing indirectly aware of his attraction to Ewen, something that might also threaten his masculinity and therefore his sense of self.

There's also the less interesting interpretation which is that Broster is a woman of the late 19th century, but I don't particularly care for that interpretation.