CHAPTER XV.
RHODA AND THE CLOAK The one servant of Mrs.Bensusan was a girl of seventeen, who had a local fame in the neighbourhood on account of her sharp tongue and many precocious qualities.

No one knew who her parents were, or where the fat landlady had picked her up; but she had been in the Jersey Street house some ten years, and had been educated and--in a manner--adopted by its mistress, although Mrs.Bensusan always gave her cronies to understand that Rhoda was simply and solely the domestic of the establishment.
Nevertheless, for one of her humble position, she had a wonderful power over her stout employer, the power of a strong mind over a weak one, and in spite of her youth it was well known that Rhoda managed the domestic economy of the house.

Mrs.Bensusan was the sovereign, Rhoda the prime minister.
This position she had earned by dint of her own sharpness in dealing with the world.

And the local tradesmen were afraid of Rhoda.

"Mrs.
Bensusan's devil," they called her, and never dared to give short weight, or charge extra prices, or pass off damaged goods as new, when Rhoda was the purchaser.