bbon. On
days when she was particularly depressed and discouraged, she felt
comforted if she could drag out the letter-box and reread the messages
from the loved one.

This is what she was doing one afternoon about a week after her
fruitless visit to Mr. Quiller's office. The weather being stormy, she
could not go out, so, after lunching abundantly on a glass of milk and
a few dry crackers, she once more dragged the box from under the bed.
Selecting a bundle of letters, she climbed on the bed, and, squatting
down, her feet crossed in Oriental fashion, proceeded to enjoy them.
Every now and then she would glance up from the sheet of closely
written paper, and take a long, loving look at the large portrait of
her sweetheart over the bed.

While thus busily engaged, there suddenly came a knock at the door.
Quickly Laura jumped from the bed, replaced the letters in the box,
which she slid back in its place, and called out:

"Come in."

Cautiously the door was opened a few inches, and a chocolate-colored
negress put her head in. Seeing that Laura was alone, she pushed the
door open wider and came in, letter in hand.

"Hello, Annie!" said Laura amiably.

"Heah's yo' mail, Miss Laura," said the slavey, with a significant
leer.

"Thank you," said the young actress, taking the proffered missive.

She merely glanced at the familiar, beloved superscription, making no
attempt to open the envelope in the presence of the maid. But Annie,
the slovenly type of negress one encounters in cheap theatrical
boarding-houses, showed no disposition to withdraw. Like most servants,
she was inquisitive, and never neglected an opportunity to spy and
gossip, considering it a part of her duties to learn everything
possible of the private affairs of the lodgers. Quite unlike the
traditional, smiling, good-natured "mammy" of the South, she was one of
those cunning, crafty, heartless, surly Northern negresses, who, to the
number of thousands, seek employment as maids with women of easy
morals, and, infesting a certain district of New York where white and
black people of the lower classes mingle indiscriminately, make it one
of the most criminal and dangerous sections of the city. Innately and
brutally selfish, such women prey on those they profess to serve, and
are honest and faithful only so long as it serves their purpose.

Annie kept one eye on the letter, while she pretended to tidy things
about the room. Presently she said:

"One li