Besides, the harbor of family ties is a man's moral bulwark; and Warrington drifted hither and thither with no harbor in view at all.
He had been an orphan since his birth; a mother meant simply a giver of life, and a father meant, even less.

Until he had read the reverse and obverse sides of life, his sense of morality had lain dormant and untilled.

Such was his misfortune.

The solitary relative he laid claim to was an aged aunt, his father's sister.

For her he had purchased a beautiful place in the town of his birth, vaguely intending to live out his old age there.
There had been a fight for all he possessed.