"The truth is, Count," the mother answered, obviously flattered, "he has great aptitude and learns everything put before him. He has just one fault, he's somewhat stubborn. But really, regarding what he said about Mithridates, do you truly believe that king used those precautions, and that they actually worked?"
"I believe so, madame," the Count replied. "Because I've used them myself to avoid being poisoned in Naples, Palermo, and Smyrna. Three separate occasions when, without those precautions, I would have lost my life."
"And your precautions worked?"
"Completely."
"Yes, I remember now, you mentioned something like this to me in Perugia."
"Really?" the Count said with remarkably well-feigned surprise. "I honestly didn't remember."
"I asked you whether poisons affected Northern people the same way they affected Southern people. You told me that the cold, sluggish temperaments of Northerners didn't react the same way as the passionate, energetic temperaments of Southerners."
