Guy Mannering Volume I - Chapter III

In which a midnight scene at Ellangowan introduces the wild and ominous figure of Meg Merrilies, whose gipsy charms and rough speech mingle with the learned disputes of astrology between the young traveller and the unyielding Dominie Sampson. Under the moonlit sky by the sea, the hopeful birth of a child is marked by celestial observation and quiet contemplation, setting a tone of mysterious influence and inherited legacy.