"Wouldn't you?" said Freddie, a little surprised at this.

"I should say not. I wouldn't be myself in a palace. I'm pretty well satisfied here."

"But what about the children?" said Freddie.

"The children?" asked Aunt Amanda.

"Yes. Robert and Jenny and James. You know."

Aunt Amanda looked at him for a moment, and then nodded her head and sighed.

"Yes," she said. "You know about them, don't you? I forgot that you knew. Yes, I miss them a good deal, and I suppose I even cry sometimes because I haven't got them. But I love to think about them. I'm happy thinking about them, even if I can't have them."

"James was the littlest," said Freddie.

"Yes," said Aunt Amanda, nodding her head to herself as if at a gentle memory.

"He was too little to go out much with the others," said Freddie.