Only a Servant by Ruth Lamb

WHEN Mrs. Caruth invited Joyce Minces to stay at Fernsclough she was quite in earnest, and yet, whilst anxious to serve the daughter of her old friend, she was hardly sorry that the girl did not accept the invitation. Her only son was absent, but time would bring him back. Joyce had been his pet, and he had made himself her playfellow as a child. But she was a woman now, and the best of mothers are ambitious for their sons. It was, perhaps, as well that Alec should find a partner for life before he and Joyce met again.

She was a dear girl, undoubtedly. Good, true, and with a sturdy independence of character which Mrs. Caruth respected. But Alec was master of Fernsclough, and Joyce the penniless daughter of his old tutor. She had been a little afraid that something might come of that old companionship between the child and the youth; but Alec was every inch a soldier, and duty with him always came first. He had been less at home than he might well have been, but the mother was proud to see her son's name in the honour lists from time to time. He had rejoined his regiment after his recovery, but now it was ordered home, and she was looking forward to having him near or with her for, perhaps, years to come. They would spend next Christmas together, and the mother was planning what friends should be gathered at Fernsclough to make the happy season still brighter for her son.