our hands would be forced

[Coffee Break]

I encountered the sentence, "our hands would be forced", but am finding it difficult to understand it. Could you please let me know what it means? Here is the excerpt:

He decided, therefore, to form a small and very secret committee, consisting of Mrs. Stevens and himself. Their duty was to thoroughly explore the whole matter and assure themselves that everything could be done in time. Then, but only then, was the news to be announced to the children.

“If we tell them now,” he said, “we shall simply be carried away by public opinion—our hands would be forced: they would never see reason—even if we found that we could not possibly alter our plans in time.”

- R. C. Sherriff, The Fortnight in September, Chapter 30

This is a novel published in 1931, which describes a fortnight in September in which an English family consisting of Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mary, Dick, and Ernie go on a holiday. Towards the end of the holiday, they are suggested by Mrs. Huggett, the landlady, to stay for another day as a gift from her. So Mr. Stevens decides to form a secret committee consisting of himself and Mrs. Stevens to make sure every alteration in their plan could be managed before revealing this news to their children.

Here, I wonder what this underlined part means.
What would it mean that their "hands" are "forced"...? I vaguely guess that they would be swayed by the public opinion, but I am not sure what exactly it means.

 

[Barque]

our hands would be forced:

It's an expression meaning they might be forced to do something they may not necessarily want to do.

It sounds as if Mr. Stevens likes the idea of staying another day and wants to plan something for that day. However he wants time to do things his own way. He probably doesn't want to tell his children too soon because he thinks they may want to do something else that day, and telling them immediately would give them more time in which to persuade Mr. and Mrs. Stevens to go along with them. Does that fit the context?

By "public opinion" he just means the opinion of his children. He's using the term humorously.

Both those paragraphs are deliberately written in a way that makes the matter sound very important, like the reference to a "small and very secret committee", for humorous effect.

I encountered the sentence

I suggest using "came across" rather than "encountered" when you're referring to sentences or words.

 

[Tarheel]

@Coffee Break I don't have a problem with "encountered" there. (It does seem almost like you've met somebody though.)

Don't you agree with me that @Barque's analysis is brilliant?

 

[Skrej]

To force someone's hand is a reference to card playing and making someone play a hand (set of cards) they don't like. Idiomatically it means to make someone do something they're not yet prepared to do.

 

[Coffee Break]

@Barque, @Tarheel and @Skrej,

Thank you so much for the detailed and brilliant explanations, and the link!
Oh, so "hand" here does not have anything to do with a human hand; it means several cards held by a player in a card game!

So, by "our hands would be forced," it would mean that Mr. and Mrs. Stevens would be steered from the direction which they think right (departing on Saturday as arranged) towards the direction children want (staying for another day, changing their plan, and departing on Sunday), if Mr. and Mrs. Stevens belatedly become aware of the fact that they could not simply change the plan.


My understanding is deepened all thanks to you! I sincerely appreciate your help.

 

[5jj]

So, by "our hands would be forced," it would mean that Mr. and Mrs. Stevens would be steered from the direction which they think right (departing on Saturday as arranged) towards the direction children want (staying for another day, changing their plan, and departing on Sunday), if Mr. and Mrs. Stevens belatedly become aware of the fact that they could not simply change the plan.

No. Read post #2 again.

 

[Barque]

it would mean that Mr. and Mrs. Stevens would be steered from the direction which they think right (departing on Saturday as arranged)

From the quoted passage, I don't think the writer means Mr. and Mrs. Stevens don't want to stay another day. They're open to the idea but they want to arrange things in a way that their children might not agree with.