Page:Further Chronicles of Avonlea (1920).djvu/100

72 Patterson desperately. “Quite well. Nothing at all the matter with her, in fact. I only —”

“Then what do you mean by coming here and telling me she wasn’t, and frightening me half to death?” demanded Miss Rosetta, indignantly. “My own heart isn’t very strong — it runs in our family — and my doctor warned me to avoid all shocks and excitement. I don’t want to be excited, Mr. Patterson. I won’t be excited, not even if Charlotte has another spell. It’s perfectly useless for you to try to excite me, Mr. Patterson.”

“Bless the woman, I’m not trying to excite anybody!” declared Mr. Patterson in exasperation. “I merely called to tell you —”

“To tell me what?” said Miss Rosetta. “How much longer do you mean to keep me in suspense, Mr. Patterson. No doubt you have abundance of spare time, but — I — have not.”

“— that your sister, Mrs. Wheeler, has had a letter from a cousin of yours, and she’s in Charlottetown. Mrs. Roberts, I think her name is —”

“Jane Roberts,” broke in Miss Rosetta. “Jane Ellis she was, before she was married. What was she writing to Charlotte about? Not that I want to know, of course. I’m not interested in Charlotte’s correspondence, goodness knows. But if Jane had anything in particular to write about she should have written to me. I am the oldest.