A boarding-school pupil-teacher, abandoned by her father and compromised by her jealous employer, is rescued by a poor young barrister.
Here is another novel by Croker, for whom see Novels 013, 073, 129, and 183.
“Mrs. Croker is always a lively and spirited writer. . . . There are passages of natural humour and also of pathos here to hold the reader’s attention.” Academy, January 8, 1896
Some more or less contrasting views:
“The human nature in the book is wrong from the beginning to end. . . . But if you can get over the utterly false psychology, the bare outline of the tale as given here will show you that there is incident enough to make a lively story.” Bookman, February 1896
The heroine is in “a fine situation, possessing unlimited possibilities, possibilities which would weigh heavily on the mind of a conscientious young author; but they sit lightly on Mr. Croker, and he canters ahead untroubled by the claim of subtleties, for which we are grateful, judging his power from the display he makes of it in the story. Mr. Croker writes in an undistinguished, not to say common, style, and the three volumes show no artistic merit whatever. But he is not pretentious, and he is not dull, and though we are not dying to read another of his novels, we did read this one right through without wanting to stop.” Saturday Review, March 14, 1896
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