Charlotte would be afraid I would want to get the baby , seeing that Jane and I were such intimate friends long ago . And who has a better right to it than me , I should like to know ? Ai n't I the oldest ? And have n't I had experience in bringing up babies ? Charlotte need n't think she is going to run the affairs of our family just because she happened to get married . Jacob Wheeler -- '' `` I must be going , '' said Mr. Patterson , gathering up his reins thankfully . `` I am much obliged to you for coming to tell me about Jane , '' said Miss Rosetta , `` even though you have wasted a lot of precious time getting it out . If it had n't been for you I suppose I should never have known it at all . As it is , I shall start for town just as soon as I can get ready . '' `` You 'll have to hurry if you want to get ahead of Mrs. Wheeler , '' advised Mr. Patterson . `` She 's packing her trunk and going on the morning train . '' `` I 'll pack a valise and go on the afternoon train , '' retorted Miss Rosetta triumphantly . `` I 'll show Charlotte she is n't running the Ellis affairs . She married out of them into the Wheelers . She can attend to them . Jacob Wheeler was the most -- '' But Mr. Patterson had driven away . He felt that he had done his duty in the face of fearful odds , and he did not want to hear anything more about Jacob Wheeler . Rosetta Ellis and Charlotte Wheeler had not exchanged a word for ten years . Before that time they had been devoted to each other , living together in the little Ellis cottage on the White Sands road , as they had done ever since their parents ' death . The trouble began when Jacob Wheeler had commenced to pay attention to Charlotte , the younger and prettier of two women who had both ceased to be either very young or very pretty .
Rosetta had been bitterly opposed XXXXX the match from the first .
As Before If about because in on than that to