"I will now produce information," began Hallie, "my office being that of Food Inspector."
"Her main purpose in bringing you here, Uncle, was to give you food and then talk about it," said Jerrold solemnly. Hallie only made a face at him, and went on:
"We have a magnificent system of production and distribution," she explained, "with a decreasing use of animal foods."
"Was this a vegetarian meal?" I asked in a hollow voice.
"Mostly; but you shall have meat when you want it—better meat than you used to get, too."
"Cold Storage Meat?"
"Oh, no; that's long since stopped. The way we manage about meat is this: A proper proportion of edible animals are raised under good conditions—nice, healthy, happy beasts; killed so that they don't know it!—and never kept beyond a certain time limit. You see——" she paused, looking for the moment like her mother, "the whole food business is changed—you don't realize——"
"Go ahead and tell me—tell me all—my life at present is that of Rollo, I perceive, and I am most complacent after this meal."
"Uncle, I rejoice in your discovery, I do indeed. You are an uncle after my own heart," said Jerrold.
So my fair niece, looking like any other charming girl in a pretty evening frock, began to expound her specialty. Her mother begged to interrupt for the moment. "Let me recall to him things as they were—which you hardly know, you happy child. Don't forget, John, that when we were young we did not know what good food was."