I. Grey’s Early Life

Agnes’s father was a clergyman of the north of England, who was deservedly respected by all who knew him. Her mother was a squire's daughter, and a woman of spirit. Her parents’ marriage had a deep influence on her, which bestowed her with a firm opinion on love. Though not very rich, they lead a comfortable life by the good manager of her mother. Of six children, Agnes and her sister Mary were the only two that survived the perils of infancy and early childhood. As in real life of Anne, Agnes is the youngest child of the family. Every home member always regarded her as THE child even when she was a woman. Her mother, being at once highly accomplished, well informed, and fond of employment, took the whole charge of their education on herself, with the exception of Latin - which her father undertook to teach them - so that they never even went to school. Their only intercourse with the world consisted in a stately tea-party, and an annual visit to our paternal grandfather's.

Her father unduly vexed himself with thinking of the sacrifices his dear wife had made for him, and troubled his head with revolving endless schemes for the augmentation of his little fortune, for her sake and the children’s. At length, a kind friend, who was a merchant suggested him a means of doubling his private property at one stroke, and further increasing it, hereafter, to an untold amount. That is to entrust the friend with what he could spare, and the merchant promised to give a piece of cake to him after the pursuit. So her father sold the patrimony, and the whole of its price was deposited in the hands of the friendly merchant. When the merchant sailed out, her father was sure he shall be rich. So he lent money and spent more to improve his wife’s and daughters’ life, hoping that he could not only pay back the debt but also become very rich by the return of the merchant. Agnes and her sister were very happy during the time, too.

Disappointed her father was, and bitterly, too. The stroke was so big that her father never recovered fully. Agnes’ family comes to financial ruin. Desperate to earn the money to care for herself, she takes one of the few jobs allowed to respectable women in the early Victorian era – the role of governess to the children of the wealthy.