No servant of the chateau was allowed past the door of the outer anteroom, now commonly spoken of as the guardroom of the tower.

Valerie dined daily in the salon with Madame de Condillac and Marius, but her other meals were served her in her own apartments.

The servants who brought the meals from the kitchen delivered them to "Battista" in the guardroom, and he it was who laid the cloth and waited upon mademoiselle.

At first this added duty had irritated him more than all that he had so far endured.

Had he Martin Marie Rigobert de Garnache lived to discharge the duties of a lackey, to bear dishes to a lady's table and to remain at hand to serve her?
The very thought had all but set him in a rage.