Posted by Robert Hill on August 04, 2010 at 10:32:39 user eclrh.
In Reply to: Re: Three questions posted by Owen Roberts on August 03, 2010 at 14:43:26:
Not sure about this. We know from the listing of the books included it would be written about 1941 when 75% of the series was written. By that time the framework would be well established.
The note only proves what he was thinking when he wrote it. It doesn't prove that his thoughts had been consistent all along.
It could even be that at the time he wrote the note he was conscious that he had had a different mental picture in the later books from that in S&A about Peggy's age or size relative to John and Susan, and was trying to find the best compromise by declaring Peggy to be the same age as Susan.
As I said in an earlier post, it's several years since I last read some of the books, so I don't have references to hand. Yet I think I remember passages in some of the books (after S&A) that suggest Peggy is younger or smaller than Susan.
And I've just remembered one of them: in ML, ch. 24, the characters (except Roger) position themselves in the dragon in order of size: Captain Flint, Nancy, John, Susan, Peggy, Titty.