My Pretty Maid; or, Liane Lester

A melodramatic romance centers on a family devastated when an infant is stolen and a foundling is secretly substituted to restore the mother's failing health. The adoptive daughter grows up beloved while the anguished father conceals the truth and continues a private search, and the household becomes entangled in suitors, dressmakers, and servants whose flirtations and broken engagements lead to jealousy, forgery, revenge, and violent confrontations. Told through episodic chapters of suspense and domestic intrigue, the narrative examines hidden identity, parental guilt, social friction, and the moral costs of deception before moving toward resolution through friendship, revelations, and matrimonial endings.