The Big Blue Soldier

Marilla Chadwick's nephew is returning from the war and Marilla is ready to welcome the dear boy home with open arms. With the help of her pretty neighbor, Mary Amber, she has prepared a sumptuous dinner for him. But just as her delicious meal is ready to be served, Marilla learns her nephew isn't coming, after all. It's a crushing disappointment ... and Marilla is too embarrassed to tell Mary Amber that the nephew she adores is too busy to see her. So when she spies a disheveled soldier coming down the road, Marilla immediately invites him to dinner ... if he'll pretend to be her nephew.

Lyman Gage is having his own version of a bad day. He too has returned from the war, only to discover he's broke and his fiancée is now engaged to another man. With no home and only forty-six cents left in his pocket, he's more than willing to pretend to be the old woman's nephew in exchange for a home-cooked meal. But he soon realizes he's getting more than he expected from Marilla ... and from Mary Amber.

This early novel by beloved Christian fiction author Grace Livingston Hill was first published as a serial story in a 1920 Christian magazine.