First of all, I’m more than thrilled that my latest drawing has been well received, and thank you all very much for your kind words!! It’s very encouraging to read your positive comments and feedback. 😀 Just so you know, I’m planning to draw two more variants of this fanart based on the scene depicted in Candy’s last letter to Albert as shown in the epilogue of Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS). I hope it won’t take me too long this time to draw, and please bear with me. Thanks in advance!
Meanwhile, before I discuss that letter further, I’d like to backtrack a little bit to Candy’s first letter to her prince in CCFS epilogue. When I first read the spoilers from CCFS, I didn’t expect it would be so different from the one shown in the manga and the old Candy Candy novel. For your interest, I’ve already talked about that particular letter in an old post, Candy’s first letter to Prince on the Hill.
Unlike the manga, in CCFS, Albert didn’t reveal his last secret on the day Candy returned to Pony’s Home. It happened some time after, but it wasn’t clear how much time had elapsed in between. Recently, I have discussed the CCFS timeline with two of my friends, and we have thought of different reasons why Albert had waited. They were merely our guesses, but Albert told Candy himself that he had wanted to wait for the right season, some time before her birthday in May (from spoilers):
“I knew I would surprise you again, but I was pondering when I should reveal another secret to you.
If it’s possible, in the same season when I met you for the first time … on that Pony’s Hill.”
Compared to her first letter to her prince in the old CC novel, Candy’s letter after the shock of realizing that Albert was her prince in CCFS was shorter and less detailed. After a formal greeting to her “Uncle William”, she wrote the following (from spoilers):
I feel as if I am still dreaming.
Prince on the Hill was …
Little did I know it’s Albert-san —.
It means … Granduncle William was the Prince on the Hill!
Oh, I’m still quivering with surprise and sensation.
After you revealed such a secret, soon came Georges to pick you up, and again, you vanished in a blink of an eye from the Pony’s Hill —.
Maybe that’s why it seems like a dream all the more.
I feel like I’m floating.
I have never forgotten about the Prince on the Hill.
I don’t think I will be able to sleep tonight.
Candy
Sounds like she was describing a hazy but sweet dream, or that she was still in a daze of euphoria, which makes sense to me. After all, she was likely reeling from the surprise, joy and disbelief of finally “reuniting with her prince”, at the same location and in the same season. Not to mention that her prince vanished in a blink, again! 😉
Candy and Prince on the Hill
At any rate, judging from her words, we can tell that the reunion, despite being very brief and astonishing, had been a lovely memory to Candy. Though quivering with surprise and sensation still, she decided to jot down her feelings and sent that to Albert. She felt she was still dreaming, that her Prince on the Hill was no other than the man she had come to know very well, who also cared about her a lot.
As if a “dreaming state” was not enough to describe her current emotions, she added “I feel like I’m floating”. I don’t know the original wordings in CCFS, but the expression of “feeling like you’re floating on air” essentially means that you’re extremely happy, if not ecstatic.
Above all, Candy told Albert she had never forgotten her prince, which implies that she had never forgotten that he had been her first love.
To end the letter, Candy said that she wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. Can you guess why?
I’ve already mentioned many times that there are obvious parallels between Candy Candy and Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster, so it’s not a surprise at all that there are parallels between Candy’s letter and Judy’s first love letter to Master Jervie, right after knowing his true identity:
“My Very Dearest Master-Jervie-Daddy-Long-Legs Pendleton-Smith,
Did you sleep last night? I didn’t. Not a single wink. I was too amazed and excited and bewildered and happy. I don’t believe I ever shall sleep again…
… Such a little half hour we had together! I’m afraid maybe I dreamed it…
… I was so dazed when I got to the station… But we’re both very, very happy, aren’t we?
P.S. This is the first love-letter I ever wrote…”
Can’t you see that this letter of Candy to Albert was nothing short of a love letter? She wrote this soon after he had taken the initiative to make such an important confession to her. If she had had no special feelings for him, would she have been so dreamily happy? Imagine if it had been Neil Leagan instead, how would she have responded? 🙄 You see what I mean?
Likewise, if Albert was merely a loving brother / guardian to Candy, 😐 his revelation of being her first love would have embarrassed her to say the least, don’t you think? She plausibly would have avoided him after that, at least for a while; in order not to give him any false hope, she might even remind him of their legal relationship or try to explain to him that they were just friends. Or she could come up with some excuses, something like she still couldn’t forget Terry or whatever.
However, it’s undeniable in her letter that Candy had completely accepted Albert as her prince, and that fact alone made her too excited to sleep. Is it possible that she wondered what would happen to her and her prince in the near future?
That also explains why Mizuki used this letter to begin the CCFS epilogue. It was the beginning of their happy ending. 😀
Note: To view the above collage in a much larger size, please go to the Facebook Page, William Albert Andrew (el príncipe de la colina).