That Hideous Strength - Ch. 2 - Dinner with the Sub-Warden

After the meeting, Mark goes to dine at the house of Curry, the sub-Warden of Bracton, with Lord Feverstone and James Busby, the Bursar, joining in the dinner party.  Mark begins to warm to Feverstone.  The discussion turns to the NICE (National Institute of Co-ordinated Experiments).  Busby thinks the NICE is "the first attempt to take applied science seriously from a national point of view."  Curry thinks the NICE "marks the beginning of a new era - the really scientific era."

Both Curry and Busby have to leave the dinner party for other commitments, leaving Feverstone and Mark alone.  As soon as they leave, Feverstone bursts out laughing louder and louder, which Mark soon joins in infectiously.  Feverstone, who works in the NICE, though mostly at a distance, thinks Curry and Busby have silly ideas about the intentions of the NICE.  Much to Mark's surprise, Feverstone thinks Curry and Busby are not very intelligent, but useful, since they usually carry out at Bracton what is suggested to them.  Thus they led the charge to bring the NICE to Edgestow, as was suggested to them.

However, Feverstone congratulates Mark for understanding the point of the NICE at once, and invites him

The plaque says Lord Feverstone

to come with him to visit the organization to consider joining and being considered as a member.  Feverstone expresses disdain for Bracton, and says Mark would be wasted there.  Mark, who felt he joined one inner circle when appointed at Bracton, and who now feels he entered another inner circle as part of the Progressive Elements - now feels part of another inner circle with Feverstone, understanding he can be part of a further inner circle with the NICE.

Feverstone presents the NICE as on the side of Order - the opportunity to take control of our destiny - the chance to take over the human race and recondition it - to make man a really efficient animal, if only "Science is really given a free hand."

Feverstone presents three problems: first the interplanetary problem (readers of the trilogy will understand this as the battles presented in the first two parts of the trilogy, where the battle took place on Mars and Venus - Dick Divine had been part of the battle on Mars).  He refers to the murder of Weston (his partner in crime on Mars, who later tried to corrupt Venus, and killed by Ransom, whom we will meet later in the story).

The second problem Feverstone presents is life itself.  There is far too much of it of every-kind on the planet and it needs to cleaned up (to promote order).  The details have to be gone into.

The third problem is Man himself.  At first this means sterilization of the unfit, liquidating the backward races, and then selective breeding (eugenics).  Eventually it means a real education by stages which eventually leads to the direct manipulation of the brain - which leads to a new type of man.

Feverstone says they want Mark because he can write in such a manner as to camouflage their purpose for now (propaganda) until they can say it openly.  Mark, eager to enter another inner circle, agrees to go with Feverstone and visit John Wither at the NICE for the weekend.

When Mark finally arrives home, Jane surprises him with an overwhelming, teary embrace, absent of any defensiveness.  When Jane returned home alone from the Dimbles, fear upon fear built up, especially as reflected in her dream, so she was quite besides when Mark came home.

The next day, Jane was angry at herself for being the fluttering, tearful "little woman."  This anger spilled over as anger against Mark, who announced he was leaving for a couple days to visit the NICE at Belbury with Lord Feverstone who first visited them before whisking Mark away in his sports car.  After they left, Jane thought Feverstone had a "loud, unnatural laugh and the mouth of a shark, and no manners."  She thought him a perfect fool, shifty, and distrusted his face.  She worried he would make a fool of Mark, who could be so easily taken in.

However, she worried about spending days and nights alone.  She eventually decides to see Miss Ironwood at St. Anne's as the Dimbles recommended.

As this chapter ends, we see Mark and Jane going in different directions - an analogy of their marriage.  Mark rides with Lord Feverstone in his sports car, at wild speeds, towards the NICE in Belbury (lowlands).  Jane rides in a steady train in the opposite direction towards St. Anne's (on a hill with a prominent view of the surrounding countryside) to meet with Miss Ironwood as the Dimbles recommended.

Ch. 1 - The Sale of College Property

Ch. 3 - Belbury and St. Anne's-on-the-Hill

Overview of book

List of Characters