A mad bull is nothing to my friend if you speak of Vivisection." Ovid looked at him steadily, when he uttered the last word.

Benjulia looked back, just as steadily at Ovid.
At the moment of that reciprocal scrutiny, did the two men suspect each other?
Ovid, on his side, determined not to leave the house without putting his suspicions to the test.
"I thank you for the letter," he began; "and I will not forget the warning." The doctor's capacity for the exercise of the social virtues had its limits.

His reserves of hospitality were by this time near their end.
"Is there anything more I can do for you ?" he interposed.
"You can answer a simple question," Ovid replied.

"My cousin Carmina--" Benjulia interrupted him again: "Don't you think we said enough about your cousin in the Gardens ?" he suggested.
Ovid acknowledged the hint with a neatness of retort almost worthy of his mother.

"You have your own merciful disposition to blame, if I return to the subject," he replied.