[ crossly, with a little more steel in it than usual: ]

Geneviève Lucienne de la Fontaine, you shan’t have me back at all if you persist in speaking in such a fashion.

[ an audible breath, and then more softly: ]

We are... [ They are what. Fine? Alive? Not so, all. ] as well as we can be, given the circumstances. I love you very much, I am taken care of. I pray you turn your formidable fire on the man who deserves it.