But,
whenever she mentioned the circumstance of Thomas Drummond
having been the murderer of his son, he shook his head, and once
made the remark that "It was all a mistake, a gross and fatal error;
but that God, who had permitted such a flagrant deed, would
bring it to light in his own time and way." In a few weeks he
followed his son to the grave, and the notorious Robert Wringhim
took possession of his estates as the lawful son of the late laird,
born in wedlock, and under his father's roof. The investiture was
celebrated by prayer, singing of psalms, and religious disputation.
The late guardian and adopted father, and the mother of the new
laird, presided on the grand occasion, making a conspicuous
figure in all the work of the day; and, though the youth himself
indulged rather more freely in the bottle than he had ever been
seen to do before, it was agreed by all present that there had never
been a festivity so sanctified within the great hall of Dalcastle.
Then, after due thanks returned, they parted rejoicing in spirit;
which thanks, by the by, consisted wholly in telling the Almighty
what he was; and informing, with very particular precision, what
they were who addressed him; for Wringhim's whole system of
popular declamation consisted, it seems, in this--to denounce all
men and women to destruction, and then hold out hopes to his
adherents that they were the chosen few, included in the
promises, and who could never fall away.
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