Of  Rhoda  Fleming  Mr.  Garnet  Smith  says  :

Rhoda  Fleming,  like  Sandra,  is  a  child  of  nature,  strong,  very
natural.  Not  of  '  the  comfortable  classes,'  a  farmer's  daughter,
she  has  thus  escaped,  even  as  Sandra,  the  deformation  of  training
to  cowardice.  Rhoda  is  proffered  passionate  love  by  strong  Robert;
but  Rhoda  is  a  savage,  freedom-loving  virgin.  She  has  some  idea,
indeed,  that  the  love  of  a  dainty  '  gentleman  '  would  be  preferable
to  that  of  a  rough  Robert,  but  her  passion  and  pride  are  fixed
on  her  weak  sister  Dahlia ;  and  Dahlia  is  betrayed  by  a  '  gentle-
man. '  '  It  is  ignorance  that  leads  to  the  unhappiness  of  girls.
How  can  girls  know  what  men  are?  '  she  cries.  She  will  right
her  sister  at  all  hazards.  Stern,  bitterly  strong,  she  achieves  that
which  she  judges  to  be  just,  rights  her  sister  most  wrongly,  thwarts
the  repentance  of  her  sister's  lover  and  beloved.  .  .  .  There  is
tragedy  in  Rhoda's  strenuousness  in  well-meaning  error.  .  .  .  Mr.
