...Martel thinks damn it all and kneels to shuffle all those books that spilled back into the box so he can lift it himself with relative ease. "Master Doul is entering my employ," he says, mildly. If Eirene objects, and has fair reason to object, for all gods' sake let her do it quickly and not after it'll be more difficult to be rid of the man.

'What the devil is going on' is implied.