What was the aunt's habit when a child misbehaved in "The Lumber Room"?

The woman he calls aunt isn't really Nicholas's aunt at all. She's his cousins's aunt but still insists on being referred to as Nicholas's aunt all the same. This gives her the authority to chastise the young boy whenever he misbehaves, which is often. Nicholas' latest stunt is to claim that there's a frog in his bowl of bread and milk. His aunt won't stand for such nonsense, and so resolves to punish him. It makes no difference that there really was a frog in Nicholas' bowl—he should know, as he put it there—but as far as his aunt is concerned, Nicholas has been up to mischief again and must be punished accordingly.

In this case, that means that he will not be accompanying his cousins on their trip to the sands at Jagborough. As punishment for being such a naughty boy, he will stay at home. This method of punishment seems to be a favorite of Nicholas's aunt. Whenever the children misbehave, she has this habit of inventing some kind of festival treat of which they are to be denied. So for instance, the aunt will tell the children that she was planning on taking them to a marvelous circus in a neighboring town, but as they've behaved so badly she's not going to take them after all, and so they will stay at home as punishment.

How did the aunt in "The Lumber Room" punish the children?

Hello! You asked about The Lumber Room by Saki.

At the beginning of the story, we find out that Nicholas is in disgrace. A frog has been discovered in his basin of bread-and-milk. Although his elders insist that there could not possibly be a frog in his basin, he declares that there is indeed one in there. After all, he put it there himself. For this trespass, Nicholas will not be going to Jagborough Sands with his cousins.

His aunt has hastily invented 'the Jagborough expedition in order to impress on Nicholas the delights that he has justly forfeited by his disgraceful conduct at the breakfast-table.' Whenever any of the children misbehave, she would organize an exciting trip or an event in which the offender would be rigorously barred from participating. If all the children misbehave collectively, all would be suddenly made aware of a wonderful circus in a neighboring town, with unsurpassed entertainment and untold number of elephants present. All the children would then be told that they would have been taken to this circus that very day if they had not misbehaved.

This is how the aunt punishes misbehaving children in 'The Lumber Room.'

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