For generations the De la Bornes have stripped their house and sold their lands to hold their own in the world.

I am the last of my race, and there is nothing left for me to sell," he declared, with a momentary bitterness.
"Hadn't you--a half brother ?" the Princess asked.
Cecil hesitated for a moment.

He had drifted so easily into the position of head of the house.

It was so natural.

He felt that he filled the place so perfectly.
"I have," he admitted, "but he counts, I am sorry to say, for very little.