"Yes, really I feel better."
"You mean you drive me away?"
"The idea of such a thing."
"I shall be in town; I am on duty at the palace."
"Then you will see the Queen," said Mirabeau, becoming gloomy once more.
"Probably; have you any message for her?"
Mirabeau smiled bitterly.
"I should not take such a liberty, doctor; do not even say that you have seen me: for she will ask if I have saved the monarchy, as I promised, and you will be obliged to answer No! It is true," he added with a nervous laugh, "that the fault is as much hers as mine."
"You do not want me to tell her that your excess of exertions in the tribune is killing you."
"Nay, you may tell her that," he replied after brief meditation: "you may make me out as worse than I am, to test her feelings."