Tom and Some Other Girls

You would be mistaken if you thought this was going to be a book about a girl called Thomasina, for it is actually about a girl call Rhoda Chester. Rhoda has been brought up as the child of rich parents. Her brothers have done well, but she has been kept at home, and has been taught by governesses and other visiting tutors. The German fraulein goes to her own home in Germany for a holiday, where she gets married and never comes back.

This prompts Mr. Chester to consider sending Rhoda away to a boarding school. There is a discussion, Rhoda's mother not being at all in favour of the idea, but Rhoda is keen to go.

They settle on a school. Rhoda goes there, and enjoys herself, doing well. Tom and the other girls are of course her schoolmates. But there is to be an important exam, for which Rhoda overworks, to the point where her brain no longer works when she is in the examination hall. So life is downward, instead of upward, she realises.