His ancestors had worked their own ruin, and that of their descendants, in various ways.

Some by gambling, some in the army, some by undue prodigality in living--in order that they might shine at court--so that each generation had left the estate more and more diminished.

The fiefs, the farms, the land surrounding the chateau itself, all had been sold, one after the other, and the last baron, after desperate efforts to retrieve the fallen fortunes of the family--efforts which came too late, for it is useless to try to stop the leaks after the vessel has gone down--had left his son nothing but this half-ruined chateau and the few acres of barren land immediately around it.

The unfortunate child had been born and brought up in poverty.

His mother had died young, broken-hearted at the wretched prospects of her only son; so that he could not even remember her sweet caresses and tender, loving care.