leave helpless

No man has a right to desert or leave helpless, or even dependent upon others, except in extraordinary cases, the mother of his children.

He knew that he could not leave helpless Grace Hilland to the care of strangers, and that there was no place for him in the world but at her side; and yet it was with something of the timidity and hesitation of a lover that he asked her, as they paced a shady garden-walk, "Grace, dear Grace, will you marry me?"