tharkay said passionately , `` i wonder if you would speak so if you were forced to endure it wholly alone ; if not only society but all those on whom you might justly have a claim of brotherhood looked upon you with that same disdain , your superior officers and your comrades-in-arms ; if all hope of independence and advancement were denied you and , as a sop , you were offered the place of a superior servant , somewhere between a valet and a trained dog . ''