"Where is it?" he growled.
"I don't know," she answered calmly, still intent on her own paper.
Brockton began to lose his temper, as he did easily when not feeling just right. Not daring to vent his ill humor on his vis à vis, he looked around for the colored maid. Loudly he called:
"Annie——! Annie——!! Annie!!!" In a savage undertone, half directed at Laura, he growled: "Where the devil is that lazy nigger?"
Laura looked up, a mild expression of indignant surprise on her face. Quietly she said:
"I suppose she's gone to get her breakfast."
"Well, she ought to be here," he snapped.
"Did it ever occur to you," said Laura quickly, "that she has got to eat, just the same as you have?"
"She's your servant, isn't she?" he barked.
"My maid," she corrected, with difficulty controlling herself.