Posted by Robert Hill on January 14, 1998 at 13:25:06:
In Reply to: Captain Flint a younger brother? (Was 3 million cheers and 10 gongs for ARC). posted by Mark on January 12, 1998 at 19:34:34:
Peggy's age has been discussed in other threads. As Mark points out,
she is said in Swallows and Amazons to be about the same size as John.
My belief is that at that time Ransome thought of her as being about
the same age as John, but later (either forgetting or regretting this)
he made her younger than Susan.
I think there are about three references in Winter Holiday which either
suggest, or state explicitly, that Peggy is smaller or younger than
Susan. I can't give chapter and verse, but one of them has Dorothea
guessing that Peggy is probably not much older than herself.
In The Picts and the Martyrs, after the burglary at Beckfoot, Peggy is
found to have the same shoe size as Dorothea. Nancy comments that
it's fortunate that Dot has big "hoofs" for her size.
In Missee Lee, the characters (except Roger who is dancing in front)
take their places in the dragon in order of size: Captain Flint,
Nancy, John, Susan, Peggy, Titty.
There may be relevant references in other books. Those named above
are the only ones I've re-read recently in which the Amazons appear.
Another change takes place in Peggy after Swallows and Amazons (or
maybe even before the end of the book - I'm currently re-reading it):
she is initially a great chatterer but soon becomes no more talkative
than most of the others, and less talkative than Nancy.