Nesbit is concerned with two social subjects, education and class distinction. At the very beginning of the novel, her authorial voice intrudes to lament the separation of boys' and girls' schools: "the sensible habit of having boys and girls at the same school is not yet as common as I hope it will be some day." Kathleen suggests at one point that the students write a book about what their school is really like, but Gerald rejects the idea as a project that would only result in their expulsion. On the other hand, it is clear that the young students are both well-read and articulate. The austerity of school life, intellectual as well as social, is similar to those later expounded by C. S. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia.

Throughout the novel Nesbit is concerned with the inequities of class distinction. The fact is central...