Yes, he was always civil, but he had no problem making her feel squeamish - he didn’t repeat Miggs’ utterance of “c*nt”, but still referred to it. He also countered Clarice’s “…sounds like something Miggs would say”, with “not anymore”, which obviously shook Clarice. And IF he was referring to Clarice’s period with his comment, it was with a “civil” euphemism as opposed to something vulgar.

Yep, maybe that was the point.

Edit: I was called out for calling my own post pointless- I was actually acknowledging the possibility that maybe he was referring to both, which I hadn’t considered.

I thought about that exchange as well, but still wondered, since so much of his character is based on picking up subtle clues from human behavior.