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Transcriber's note:

      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).




  [Illustration: THE ADOPTED CHILD.
  _It was now Anna's turn to support her father. page 139_]




  THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER,

  A TALE FOR
  YOUNG PERSONS.

  BY MISS SANDHAM,
  _Author of "The Twin Sisters," "William Selwyn," and many
  other Approved Works._

  "You took me up a tender flower."

  _SECOND EDITION._

  LONDON:
  PRINTED FOR J. HARRIS AND SON,
  ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD.
  1822.




LONDON

PRINTED BY COX AND BAYLIS,
GREAT QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S-INN-FIELDS.




PREFACE.


The following tale is intended to shew what people ought to be, rather
than what they are; as there are few, possessing Mrs. Meridith's
fortune, who have an inclination to dispose of it in the manner she is
represented to have done. Indeed, the characters here introduced are too
near perfection to be met with in real life, yet the Author hopes that
her young readers will receive instruction, as well as amusement, in
perusing it.

Some of the incidents may have been before introduced in works of the
same kind; though she is not aware of plagiarism, or borrowing from
other authors, and as she has endeavoured to pourtray those smaller
delineations of character which often escape a general observer, she
hopes many of the ideas will be found to be new; and that the present
work will not lesson the favour which her former publications has so
abundantly met with; and which she holds in grateful estimation.




THE ADOPTED DAUGHTER.




CHAPTER I.

"You took me up a tender flower."


Mrs. Meridith was the heiress of two considerable estates, one of which
was in Sussex, on which she was born, and where, at the commencement
of this history, she came to reside: her earliest and happiest days of
childhood had been spent in the village adjoining, where she was nursed
by a respectable farmer's wife, having had the misfortune to lose her
mother, who died in bringing her into the world. Various sorrows,
and the loss of an affectionate husband very early in life, made Mrs.
Meridith prefer the quiet scenes of the country to the glitter of
dissipation, or the more uniform amusements of a provincial town; and
on entering Rosewood, the name of her estate, she hoped to lose the
remembrance of her distresses, which had hitherto heavily oppressed her,
in endeavouring to alleviate those of her tenants and the neighbouring
poor. Her father, Mr. Woodville, was a great fox-hunter, and on the
death of his wife, which he did not feel so keenly as might be expected
from the amiable character she possessed, earnestly entreated Mrs.
Campbell, who was the wife of his favourite tenant, to take charge of
the helpless infant. He could have wished she had been a boy, as she
was his only child; "yet," said he, "she must be taken care of, though
a female, and I will not injure the fortune to which she will be
entitled; and by and by, when she is old enough, I shall be glad to see
her at the head of my table;" but while she was a baby, he thought if
he entrusted her to a careful nurse, such as he was sure Mrs. Campbell
would be, it was all that could be required of him. Nor was he desirous
of having her in his own house, but perfectly satisfied that she should
be removed to the farm, where he could see her as often as he wished.
He frequently called on his return from the chace, and repeated his
thanks to Mrs. Campbell for her kind attention to his child, earnestly
requesting her not to want any thing which his house afforded; but Mr.
and Mrs. Campbell were above want, and possessed every comfort which
their moderate wishes required, so that, except the allotted stipend
which Mr. Woodville engaged to pay, she sought no other recompence, and
seldom went to Rosewood, but when its owner was confined by accident or
ill