I was going to discuss another parallel between Daddy-Long-Legs and Candy Candy, but Reeka’s comment reminded me of something I had longed to bring up. It fits well into this series too, so here I go. 🙂 The following page is taken from the last volume of the Japanese manga version, which happened when Candy was seemingly having trouble to fall asleep, missing Albert miserably (click Favorite Scenes in CC manga (2) for the scene that took place just prior to this page).
Note that the Japanese words are supposed to be read from right to left, top to bottom:
The image that shows young Candy grieving the loss of Anthony and seeking comfort in Albert the vagabond’s arms…
いつだって
そうだったらから……
Because always… this is the case… (in previous page Candy said Albert always appeared out of the blue)
The image that shows Albert tenderly stroking Candy’s hair when she was supposedly asleep…
あたしが悲しいとき
あたしがつらいとき
いつもやさしく
だきとめてくれる
アルバートさんだから……
Because Albert-san always pulls me tenderly into his arms when I’m sad and when I’m in pain…
The image that shows Candy’s fingers clasping the bedsheet…
でも
いまは……
But now…
The image that shows Albert’s face with an understanding look…
会いたいの
いますぐ会いたいの
アルバートさん
I want to see, I want to see Albert-san right at this moment
The bottom image that shows Candy lying face down in bed…
どこをさがしたらいいの……
Where should I go to look for (Albert-san)…
In the manga, Candy was fully aware that Albert had recovered from amnesia, but she still missed him, so much so that when she received a parcel from him some time later, from an unknown place called Rockstown, she decided to go there anyway, just because she wanted to see him.
Unlike the manga, in Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), Albert didn’t inform Candy of his recovery in his departure letter. He said he had caused her troubles and left her a large sum of money. Candy was terribly worried and spent many sleepless nights, thinking about him. She tried to find him everywhere, and of course, she ended up running into Terry, drunk and depressed, in a roadside theatre in Rockstown. One day I will talk more about the Rockstown version in CCFS, but my focus this time is to compare this manga plot with Judy Abbott’s letter to her Daddy.
Judy was miserable, not knowing that her daddy was actually Master Jervie, who had proposed to her roughly two months ago. She loved him but had turned him down, and she explained why in this letter to her Daddy. Note that in the beginning of this letter, she first thanked her Daddy by writing that “I owe you a great deal more than the mere money, and the rest I will continue to pay all my life in gratitude and affection.” Sounds familiar? 😛 I’m certain that even after discovering that her Daddy and Master Jervie were the same person, she would still love him with deep gratitude. 😉
Anyway, in this letter Judy said she missed Master Jervie so much, “… I miss him, and miss him, and miss him. The whole world seems empty and aching. I hate the moonlight because it’s beautiful and he isn’t here to see it with me…” Later, she wrote that “This happened nearly two months ago; I haven’t heard a word from him since he was here. I was just getting sort of acclimated to the feeling of a broken heart… I was feeling hurt because he had just disappeared into blankness without a word…”
Again, this sounds very similar to what had happened to Candy. Albert had just vanished into thin air, and she hadn’t heard from him again until a big parcel from Rockstown appeared at her door with his name as the sender. Just like Master Jervie who believed Judy wanted to marry a much younger fellow called Jimmie, Albert supposed Candy’s heart belonged to Terry still.
I agree with what Reeka said in her comment, that Albert had made a mistake, leaving the apartment without a word (but with a heavy heart, as shown in the manga). However, he was just confused, and not wanting to cause Candy any more trouble, he decided to quietly take the escape route.
Yet, don’t you think this is a solid proof that he was in love with her? If she was merely a little sister to him (by then he already knew she was legally his adopted daughter), why couldn’t he come clean with her? He would have to explain why he had hidden his recovery for a long time from her too, but it would be so much easier and straightforward if she was only a friend to him. Apparently, he wasn’t ready to let her know his true identity, that he was her guardian (he probably wanted to sort out his feelings for her first). I figure he could no longer lie to her that he was a vagabond, so he took the easy way out.
Little did Albert expect that Candy would be so lost and despondent without him by her side, like what Judy Abbott said in her letter, that she was “acclimated to the feeling of a broken heart…”. Page after page in the manga show our beloved heroine in a prolonged state of melancholy. 🙁
In the manga strip shown above, Candy was wondering where Albert was… now that she was so sad and suffering… He was always there for her, wasn’t he? Although she knew he would likely reappear to her one day, just as he had always done in the past, this time she didn’t feel like waiting passively. She wanted to see him immediately.
I have a strong feeling that she missed his hugs… so much that her heart ached. Only by seeing him again could her misery end. The fact that she longed to see his face proves that he was undoubtedly more than a friend or brother to her by then. I will continue in Part 5. ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤