Still in bed sick reading comfort reads. In my family growing up, we were all huge E. Nesbit fans, but I didn't really remember this one. Turns out there's a reason. It's not just that there is no magic--and this is a serious loss for devoted readers of the peerless fantasies Five Children and It, The Enchanted Castle etc--it's that the book is too dated. The children themselves are earnest bores always trying to do good. And when their father disappears and their mother tells them not to ask any questions or try to find out, they DON'T! This is presented as a good thing, both on the mother's part and on theirs. That is tough for a modern reader to swallow, however devoted to old English children's books. Also when their family situation is finally resolved, they are the engines of it's happening but but they can only do it through a powerful new aristocratic friend who pulls strings behind the scenes. And there's is no reflection about what would have happened to a similarly innocent person as the children's father who didn't have connections. I've heard that Enid Nesbit had Socialist leanings but that part seems Tory through and through to me! So I was a bit disappointed. But I did read through to the end and I manages to enjoy it despite these annoying parts.