Dear Kindred Spirits,
I’ve come to the end of Mistress Pat as June gives way to July.
Mistress Pat felt very much like Pat of Silver Bush to me but with a bit more sadness to it, especially towards the end. My big question was when Pat was going to finally wise up and marry Hilary. I’m not sure why Lucy Maud Montgomery chose to keep them apart for so long, but she did the same thing with Anne and Gilbert and Emily and Teddy. And, it was always the heroines who took so long to come around.
While Hilary was not present for most of Mistress Pat, his letters were, and those moments became my favorites.
Like all his [Hilary’s] letters it had a certain flavour. It lived. You could almost hear Hilary’s voice speaking through it . . . see the laughter in his eyes. Every time you re-read one of his letters you found something new in it.
Mistress Pat, The First Year, Chapter 10
“I’m putting into this letter,” she [Pat] concluded, “a little corner of the orchard, a young fir all overgrown with green tassel tips, that moonlit curve you remember in Jordan . . . a bit of wild plum spray . . . a wind that has blown over spice ferns . . . the purr of a little cat and the bark of a little dog who desires to be remembered to you . . . and always my best friendly love. Isn’t that enough, Hilary, darling?”
The Second Year, Chapter 3
Saturday was dark and dour but a pleasant letter from Hilary helped Pat through the forenoon. Dear Hilary! What letters he could write!
The Third Year, Chapter 2
One of his stimulating epistles always heartened her up. She saved them up to read in the little violet-blue hour before night came . . .
The Fourth Year, Chapter 2
Judy’s only comfort was that Hilary’s letters still came regularly.
The Fifth Year, Chapter 1
In The Eighth Year, Hilary comes for a visit.
Pat and Hilary went back into the past. Its iridescence was over everything they looked at.
. . .
It was raining moonlight through the poplars when they got back.
Finally, in The Eleventh Year, Hilary comes to Pat when she is mourning the burning of Silver Bush.
“Pat, darling,” said a voice from the shadows around her.
. . .
His lips were on hers . . . and she knew. It was like a tide turning home.
“I’ve made you mine forever with that kiss,” he said triumphantly.
For an analysis of Pat of Silver Bush and Mistress Pat, click HERE. Author Anna Rose Johnson has some wonderful thoughts. She’s also written Winter at Twin Chimneys: A Creative Continuation of the Pat Series.
Have you read Pat of Silver Bush or Mistress Pat? What do you think of Pat compared to Anne? I found that Pat really grew on me as a character.
With much delight,
Stephanie