Noble attendant in the old country (6)
I believe the answer is:
yeoman
'noble attendant' is the definition.
(servant in a noble household)
'the old country' is the wordplay.
'the old' becomes 'ye' (resembles a historical spelling of 'the').
'country' becomes 'oman' (Oman is an example).
'ye'+'oman'='YEOMAN'
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for yeoman that I've seen before include "Officer in the bodyguard of the British monarch" , "Petty officer" , "Old landholder; member of The Guard" , "Minor official" , "Significant sort of service" .)