"And his experiments with Mattei medicine?"
"
I don't know whether he continues to prosecute them or not."
"Well, I see that the conversational possibilities of that topic are exhausted. You know your replies are not very encouraging, dear."
"But," he said, "everybody sometimes gets so he doesn't answer questions at great length. I even know a young woman who becomes excessively laconic when interrogated on a certain subject."
"Of a canon, for instance."
"Precisely."
She crossed her legs, very coolly. "That young woman undoubtedly had reasons for keeping still. But perhaps that young woman is really eager to oblige the person who cross-examines her; perhaps, since she last saw him, she has gone to a great deal of trouble to satisfy his curiosity."
"Look here, Hyacinthe darling, explain yourself," he said, squeezing her hands, an expression of joy on his face.
"If I have made your mouth water so as not to have a grouchy face in front of my eyes, I have succeeded remarkably."