startled

When Dorothy, who was an orphan, first came to her, Aunt Em had been so startled by the child’s laughter that she would scream and press her hand upon her heart whenever Dorothy’s merry voice reached her ears; and she still looked at the little girl with wonder that she could find anything to laugh at.

She knelt there, lost to everything but the loveliness around her, until she was startled by a hand on her shoulder.

When she had finished her meal, and was about to go back to the road of yellow brick, she was startled to hear a deep groan near by.

I confess that I was considerably startled by this fresh proof of the practical nature of my companion’s theories.