Letter to Ellen Nussey, dated Haworth, 1 May 1849
Charlotte Brontë’s brother, Branwell, and sister Emily both died in late 1848. Within months, her last surviving sibling, Anne, was also gravely ill. In this letter to her close friend Ellen, Charlotte reveals her anxiety about their planned trip to the seaside town of Scarborough, where Anne had begged to be taken. Charlotte, Anne, and Ellen did make the trip, and Anne died there, at the age of twenty-nine, a few weeks after Charlotte sent this letter.
I am glad to hear that when we go to Scarbro’ you will be at liberty to go with us; but the journey and its consequences still continue a source of great anxiety to me: I must try to put it off two or three weeks longer if I can; perhaps by that time the milder season may have given Anne more strength, perhaps it will be otherwise – I cannot tell. The change to