How could he indeed, when he had no income from any other source?
But the two most prominent members of the family still remain to be described.

The second child had been christened Madeline and had been a great beauty.

We need not say had been, for she was never more beautiful than at the time of which we write, though her person for many years had been disfigured by an accident.

It is unnecessary that we should give in detail the early history of Madeline Stanhope.
She had gone to Italy when about seventeen years of age, and had been allowed to make the most of her surpassing beauty in the salons of Milan and among the crowded villas along the shores of the Lake of Como.

She had become famous for adventures in which her character was just not lost, and had destroyed the hearts of a dozen cavaliers without once being touched in her own.