The Misery of The Fallen Leaves

He looked hard at Miss Mellicent, under his shaggy old white eyebrows; and I heard him whisper to himself: "Ah, dear me! Another of the fallen leaves!" I knew what he meant. The people who have drawn blanks in the lottery of life -the people who have toiled hard after happiness, and have gathered nothing but disappointment and sorrow; the friendless and the lonely, the wounded and the lost- these are the people who our good Elder Brother calls the fallen leaves. I like the saying myself; it's a tender way of speaking of our poor fellows-creatures who are down in the world.

Wilkie Collins, The Fallen Leaves.