He looked round the room and drew one hand across his forehead as if bewildered. “Martini! Why, I thought you had gone away. I must have been asleep.”
“You have been sleeping like the beauty in the fairy story for the last ten hours; and now you are to have some broth and go to sleep again.”
“Ten hours! Martini, surely you haven't been here all that time?”
“Yes; I was beginning to wonder whether I hadn't given you an overdose of opium.”
The Gadfly shot a sly glance at him.
“No such luck! Wouldn't you have nice quiet committee-meetings? What the devil do you want, Riccardo? Do for mercy's sake leave me in peace, can't you? I hate being mauled about by doctors.”
“Well then, drink this and I'll leave you in peace. I shall come round in a day or two, though, and give you a thorough overhauling. I think you have pulled through the worst of this business now; you don't look quite so much like a death's head at a feast.”
“Oh, I shall be all right soon, thanks. Who's that—Galli? I seem to have a collection of all the graces here to-night.”
“I have come to stop the night with you.”
“Nonsense! I don't want anyone. Go home, all the lot of you. Even if the thing should come on again, you can't help me; I won't keep taking opium. It's all very well once in a way.”