Anne Bronte: Agnes Grey

18. CHAPTER XVIII--MIRTH AND MOURNING (continued)

It was half-past ten before I reached home. They were not in bed.

My mother and sister both met me in the passage--sad--silent--pale! I was so much shocked and terror-stricken that I could not speak, to ask the information I so much longed yet dreaded to obtain.

'Agnes!' said my mother, struggling to repress some strong emotion.

'Oh, Agnes!' cried Mary, and burst into tears.

'How is he?' I asked, gasping for the answer.

'Dead!'

It was the reply I had anticipated: but the shock seemed none the less tremendous.