I know not, my child; your father is a poor ally.

The earl was perplexed: his one poor ally had gone over to the enemy!

With a fiddle-bow for his only weapon he was a poor ally, and yet he seemed to be the only true friend she possessed.

Though I had devoured the bar hand-out to the final crumb, I was still half-famished; and hunger is but a poor ally in any battle.

Your majesty ought to be magnanimous, and restore at least a semblance of independence to my poor ally, by putting an end to the occupation.

Poor Ally, at that moment, represented North Dormer, with all its mean curiosities, its furtive malice, its sham unconsciousness of evil.