I could tell you more; but that as a sample of what I have undergone could scarcely be surpassed." "Truly-truly outrageous," sympathized the Seneschal; yet he grinned.
"I ask you--have I not suffered inconvenience enough already in the service of Mademoiselle de La Vauvraye that you can blame me if I refuse to go a single step further than my orders bid me ?" The Seneschal stared at him now in increasing dismay.

Had his own interests been less at issue he could have indulged his mirth at the other's fiery indignation at the inconveniences he recited.

As it was, he had nothing to say; no thought or feeling other than what concerned finding a way of escape from the net that seemed to be closing in about him--how to seem to serve the Queen without turning against the Dowager of Condillac; how to seem to serve the Dowager without opposing the wishes of the Queen.
"A plague on the girl!" he growled, unconsciously uttering his thoughts aloud.

"The devil take her!" Garnache smiled grimly.

"That is a bond of sympathy between us," said he.