“There’s no need to raise your voice, my dear,” said Lady Aviolet. “Of course you’re Cecil’s mother, and we shouldn’t think of doing anything inconsiderate by you, I hope, but you know, poor Jim did leave his boy to Ford’s guardianship. That shows that he wanted him brought up as he’d been brought up himself; now, doesn’t it?”
Jim Aviolet, however brought up, had, the doctor well knew, barely escaped expulsion from school on at least two occasions. He thought Rose Aviolet capable of voicing the fact then and there, and spoke before she could do so.
“Given time, isn’t there the possibility that this tendency may be eradicated?”
Rose looked at him eagerly.
“The study of psychology is taking immense strides, especially on the Continent. Have you ever heard of treatment by auto-suggestion?”
Lady Aviolet made a low sound, something between a cluck and an inarticulate ejaculation.
“I could never approve of that,” she said firmly.
They stared at her, Ford and Sir Thomas no less than the others.
“Anything to do with spiritualism,” said Rose Aviolet’s mother-in-law, shaking her head. “Quite against the teachings of religion, and great nonsense besides.”
Ford Aviolet looked at the doctor.