Hermione
take had been in talking about anything artistic, like a play, so he changed the subject again. He told me afterward that he felt if he could get onto a really practical subject all would go well.
So he asked Aunt Evelyn what she thought about Genetics.
"What are they?" asked Aunt Evelyn, her teeth chattering.
"Why, Eugenics," said Fothy. And then he had to explain all about Eugenics.
They sat perfectly still and stared at him, and he felt sure he had them interested at last, and he talked on and on about Eugenics and the Future Race, you know, and that led him back to Trial Marriages, and then he got onto the Twilight Sleep.
And, as he said himself afterward, what could be more practical?
But, you know, commonplace people never appreciate the efforts that serious thinkers make for them, and Aunt Evelyn refused to come to the table at all when dinner was announced. She said she had lost her appetite and felt faint.
But Aunt Fanny came. She asked the blessing. Papa always has her do that on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas and New Year s. And she made a regular prayer out of it—prayed for Fothy, you know, right before him; and prayed for me too. It was awful.
[98]
