That Hideous Strength - Ch 3 - Belbury and St Anne's-on-the-Hill

Belbury - "a florid Edwardian mansion"

Feverstone takes Mark at Belbury to meet John Withers, the Deputy Director of the NICE (National Institute of Co-Ordinated Experiments). Withers (the names of the characters in this story are delicious and informs us) exemplifies the mastery of double-talk.  He says a lot without saying anything at all - or he says one thing while meaning something else.  He effusively praises Mark and repeatedly reassures him he has nothing to worry about at all.  Mark simply wants to know what he would do if he came to the NICE, but can never get a direct answer out of Withers, and he kept asking himself during the interview "What are we talking about?"

Afterward, Mark is unclear whether he got a job or not.  He tries to ask Feverstone, who escapes to greet a friend.  It's time to eat at Belbury, and Mark is unsure if he should stay or not - but does.  He feels like an outsider, which Mark hates.  He spots William Hingest, a prominent chemist at Bracton, also known as Bill the Blizzard.  When Mark talks to him, Hingest says he is leaving the NICE right away, and advises Mark to do the same.  Mark is unsure.  A famous physiologist, Professor Filostrato, recognizes Mark.  He advises Mark to stay and not worry about a job description - it will become apparent - the work of the NICE is what's important - too important to pass up.

Fairy Hardcastle

Filastro introduces Mark to "Fairy" Hardcastle - the head of the internal NICE police.  The "Fairy" is "a big woman in a black, short-skirted uniform."  "... she was rather thickly built
 than fat and her iron-grey hair was cropped short."  She fixed Mark "with a gaze of cold intimacy."

Meanwhile, Jane meets Miss (Grace) Ironwood at St. Anne's-on-the-hill, the person the Dimble's recommended she go see about her dream.  Miss Ironwood dresses all in black with her hands folded on her knees (Jane saw her like this in a dream the night before).  Jane tells Miss Ironwood her dreams.  Jane worries if anything is wrong with her.  Ironwood reassures her nothing is wrong with her because Jane is a visionary - she sees things in her dreams as they happen or before they happen.  Jane's maiden name was Tudor.  Apparently, one of her ancestors had the same gift.  Ironwood determined this based on a rare book he wrote.  Ironwood believes Jane received this gift on a hereditary basis.  Ironwood urges Jane to use her gift in service for the organization at St. Anne's, as the Dimble's intended by referring her there.  She warns there are others who want to use her gift for subversive purposes, or squash her.  She advises if she goes to a psychotherapist, they would likely begin treatment, with serious results, which would not stop the dreams.

Jane almost believed her, but then became repugnant, wounded, resentful, with a general dislike of the situation she finds herself in.  She announced she had to go home, didn't know what Ironwood talked about, and didn't want anything to do with it.

Meanwhile, Mark stayed the night at Belbury, spending time with the Fairy.  He didn't exactly like her.  He found her rankly, insolently sexed, and wholly unattractive.  Yet somehow she knew this and found it amusing.  However, though he found her discussion about police work disagreeable, yet he found it esoteric.  Somehow, around her, he felt like an insider, especially as she openly shared about her varied work history.  She suggested they work hand in hand, since she viewed police work as largely the work of a sociologist (which Mark is).  Like Filastro, she urged Mark to consider himself to have the job, and not worry about the job description.

Meanwhile, Jane left St. Anne's, determined not to get mixed up in all this nonsense, as she called it.  At 23, she determined to live her own life, as she did when she married Mark.  She carried some resentment against love, and thus against Mark, for invading her life.  She thought about how much a woman gives up in getting married.  She also thought Mark seemed insufficiently aware of this.  All this grounded her determination not to have a child, at least for a long time.

At home, she received a call from Margaret Dimble (Mrs. Dimble, Mother Dimble) who experienced a dreadful thing and wants to come over to talk about it, which Jane agrees to.

Ch. 2 - Dinner with the Sub-Warden

Ch. 4 - The Liquidation of Anachronisms

Overview of That Hideous Strength

List of Characters