All the time she was attending to the duties of the toilet, these thoughts and feelings were in her mind and heart; and her fingers trembled so that it was with difficulty she could manage buttons and hooks and eyes, or stick in a pin.

She started at every sound, longing, yet dreading,—­as she had done the previous day,—­to see her father; for who could tell what news he might bring her from the nursery?

Glancing at the little clock on the mantel, when at last she was quite dressed, and ready for her breakfast, she saw that it was more than an hour past the usual time for that meal; yet no one had been near her, and she was very hungry; but, even if her father had not forbidden her to leave the room, she would have preferred the pangs of hunger to showing her face in the dining-room.

Presently, however, footsteps—­not those of her father—­approached her door.

“Miss Lu,” said a voice she recognized as that of her mamma’s maid, “please open de doah:  hyar’s yo’ breakfus.”

The request was promptly complied with; and Agnes entered, carrying a waiter laden with a bountiful supply of savory and toothsome viands.

“Dar it am,” she remarked, when she had set it on the table.  “I s’pose mos’ likely yo’ kin eat ef de precious little darlin’ is mos’ killed by means ob yo’ bein’ in a passion an’ kickin’ ob her—­de sweet honey!—­down de steps.”

And turning swiftly about, her head in the air, the girl swept from the room, leaving Lulu standing in the middle of the floor, fairly struck dumb with indignation, astonishment, and dismay.

“How dared Agnes—­a mulatto servant-girl,—­talk so to her!  But was the baby really dying?  Would papa never come to tell her the truth about it?  She wouldn’t believe any thing so dreadful till she heard it from him:  very likely Agnes was only trying to torment her, and make her as miserable as possible.”

She had sunk, trembling, into a chair, feeling as if she should never want to eat again; but with that last thought, her hopes revived, hunger once more asserted its sway, and she ate her breakfast with a good deal of appetite and relish.

But, when hunger was appeased, fears and anxieties renewed their assault:  she grew half distracted with them, as hour after hour passed on, and no one came near her except another maid, to take away the breakfast-dishes and tidy the room.

On her, Lulu turned her back, holding an open book in her hand, and pretending to be deeply absorbed in its contents, though not a word of the sense was she taking in; for, intense as was her desire to learn the baby’s condition, she would not risk any more such stabs to her sensitiveness and pride as had been given by Agnes.

This one came, did her work, and went away again in silence; but all the time she was in the room, Lulu felt that she was casting glances of disgust and disfavor at her.  She could not breathe freely till the girl had left the room.