Dorothy Dale's Engagement by Margaret Penrose

In a certain way it ages a girl to be left motherless as Dorothy Dale had been. She had been obliged to "play mother" herself so early that her maternal instincts were strongly and early developed.

Until the Dale family had come away from Dalton to live with Aunt Winnie at The Cedars, Dorothy had exercised her motherly oversight in the little family. Indeed, Roger scarcely knew any other mother than Dorothy, and Joe had almost forgotten her who had passed away soon after Roger was born.