Fortune-hunters would learn of her existence and draw near in shoals.

What chance would there then be for him?
The points in his favour were indeed few, but they were just enough to keep a tantalizing hope alive.

Modestly leaving out of count his personal and intellectual qualifications, he thought of his family.

It was an old stock enough, though not a rich one.

His great-uncle had been the well-known Vice-admiral Sir Armstrong Somerset, who served his country well in the Baltic, the Indies, China, and the Caribbean Sea.
His grandfather had been a notable metaphysician.