Sir Walter Scott - Guy Mannering, or, The Astrologer

Guy Mannering is a young astrologer, just down from Oxford. While travelling in Scotland, he loses his way and unexpectedly comes to stay at Ellangowan, just as the son of Godfrey Bertram is born. Guy Mannering consults the stars to tell the fortune of the new-born, but as the boy is destined to face much danger in his life, Mannering decides not to alarm the new parents just yet. He seals his predictions in a letter and instructs Betram to open it when the boy is five years old. But even a learned astrologer could not have foreseen how the fates of Guy Mannering and the Bertram family are intertwined… — Summary by Carolin