Bunny laughed.
‘Oh no, Mrs. Fairfield. It doesn’t follow. I only said they ought to have that.’
‘Well, you must see to it,’ retorted Mrs. Fairfield. ‘You young people, that’s your work in life, to stir things up. I think you must go into parliament, Bunny. Yes. I shall send you to parliament to put things right for us.’
‘But perhaps Bunny would rather not be sent to parliament, mother?’ suggested Hypatia.
‘Indeed,’ said the young man, ‘I’d much rather not. Edward would make a much better politician than I.’
Mrs. Fairfield proudly surveyed her son. ‘Ah, we must see about Edward. We’re not quite ready for parliament yet, are we, Edward?’
Edward smiled. ‘For my part, I never shall be ready.’
‘Mother ought to go there herself,’ said Hypatia. ‘She’d put the world straight in ten minutes.’
Her mother listened indulgently.
‘Do you know, Sheila, my children are very lucky children. They’ve been brought up in perfect freedom. They’ve got the habit of freedom. They do and think just as they like, have never known what compulsion was. Here’s Hypatia now, with her religion: she’s never been taught it by me; I’ve never forced anything down her throat. I believe that everybody has a right to follow his own bent.’