When Sarah Dallas, for her invalid mother's sake, accepted a post as housekeeper in her uncle's house in the country in return for a home for them both, she did so with many doubts, for she could still remember the warning which her father had given her shortly before he died. "There's a mean, avaricious little soul hiding behind your Uncle Edwin's smile, my dear. He serves Mammon. Give him a wide berth."

To Sarah's mother, however, a spacious home in the country, free of financial worry, seemed a wonderful exchange for their cramped home in a London suburb.