Speaker John A. Boehner has had ample reason to give Senator Ted Cruz of Texas the stink eye, shall we say. Mr. Cruz has repeatedly encouraged House conservatives to push Mr. Boehner sharply, even untenably, to the right, and he helped orchestrate the government shutdown at the end of 2013, which Mr. Boehner tried mightily to prevent.

Mr. Boehner did not hide his displeasure at those junctures, but he has refrained from criticizing Mr. Cruz personally. Asked about him last fall, Mr. Boehner said they had not talked to Mr. Cruz since he was elected to the Senate in 2012.

Last week, however, at a closed fund-raiser — in Texas, no less — it seemed to some of the 40 people in attendance that Mr. Boehner made his feelings about Mr. Cruz quite clear.

During the event, in Midland, Mr. Boehner was asked by the chairman of the state’s Republican Party, Tom Mechler, for his thoughts on Mr. Cruz’s presidential campaign. Mr. Boehner chuckled and then raised a middle finger.

Beth Cubriel, a member of the Texas Republican Party, who said she discussed the incident with Mr. Mechler afterward, said she believed that Mr. Boehner was actually directing the salty gesture at Mr. Mechler for having raised the issue.

“My understanding was, he was not giving the middle finger to Senator Cruz,” she said.

Kara Hauck, an aide to Mr. Boehner, also insisted that the intended recipient was Mr. Mechler. But in any case, she said the gesture was not meant to be taken seriously.

“Having grown up in a bar, it should be no surprise that the speaker likes to deliver jokes,” she said, “some in more colorful ways than others.”