Then one day, as Robert walks through the fields alone, he encounters a mysterious and apparently powerful young man called Gil-Martin, who has a few suggestions about how he can sort out all his problems. Robert won't be inheriting anything on his father's death-that's all going to his elder and more popular brother, George Colwan-and he regards himself as an outcast, although his stepfather has assured him that he is predestined to be one of God's elect. Lord Dalcastle suspects that he is the illegitimate son of his estranged wife and her religious adviser (whose name he shares and who is effectively his stepfather). His father, who he has been raised by his pious mother to despise as an unrepentant sinner, has no time for him. Instead, this is the tale of Robert Wringhim, the younger son of the Laird of Dalcastle. It sounds like it ought to be an Awful British Sex Comedy, but in fact James Hogg's Scottish novel dates from 1824 and is thankfully lacking in pinging bras, creaking bedsprings and window cleaners. "An assured reward for the faithful one", the motto on the title page of Robert Wringhim's titular memoirs.
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