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The Optimist
Excerpt from The Optimist
The ship swung slowly away from the side of the wharf. Several people on board then said, "Well, we're off at last!" to several other people who had only been thinking of saying it.
Owen Quentillian remembered another, longer, sea-voyage taken by himself at an early age. Far more clearly he remembered his arrival at St. Gwenllian.
It was that which he wanted to recall, aware as he was of the necessity for resuming a connection that had almost insensibly lapsed for several years.
He deliberately let his mind travel backwards, visualizing himself, a disconsolate, shivering morsel, being taken away from Papa and Mamma at the very station itself, and put into an open pony-cart beside Miss Lucilla Morchard.
The conversation between them, as far as he could recollect it, had run upon strangely categorical lines.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Canon Morchard's daughter. You can call me Lucilla."
"How old are you?"
"I'm fifteen, but you shouldn't ask grown-up persons their age."
"Oh, are you a grown-up person?"
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
The ship swung slowly away from the side of the wharf. Several people on board then said, "Well, we're off at last!" to several other people who had only been thinking of saying it.
Owen Quentillian remembered another, longer, sea-voyage taken by himself at an early age. Far more clearly he remembered his arrival at St. Gwenllian.
It was that which he wanted to recall, aware as he was of the necessity for resuming a connection that had almost insensibly lapsed for several years.
He deliberately let his mind travel backwards, visualizing himself, a disconsolate, shivering morsel, being taken away from Papa and Mamma at the very station itself, and put into an open pony-cart beside Miss Lucilla Morchard.
The conversation between them, as far as he could recollect it, had run upon strangely categorical lines.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Canon Morchard's daughter. You can call me Lucilla."
"How old are you?"
"I'm fifteen, but you shouldn't ask grown-up persons their age."
"Oh, are you a grown-up person?"
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
- GenresBritish Literature
303 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1922
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36 people want to read
About the author
E.M. Delafield
165 books150 followersEdmée Elizabeth Monica Dashwood, née de la Pasture (9 June 1890 – 2 December 1943), commonly known as E. M. Delafield, was a prolific English author who is best-known for her largely autobiographical Diary of a Provincial Lady, which took the form of a journal of the life of an upper-middle class Englishwoman living mostly in a Devon village of the 1930s, and its sequels in which the Provincial Lady buys a flat in London and travels to America. Other sequels of note are her experiences looking for war-work during the Phoney War in 1939, and her experiences as a tourist in the Soviet Union.
Daughter of the novelist Mrs. Henry De La Pasture.
Daughter of the novelist Mrs. Henry De La Pasture.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 2, 2014
This story follows one man's interactions with the family of an English Canon following World War I and the way the children in the family negotiate their relationships with their father, with his strong personality and religious beliefs. I'm a long-time fan of Delafield, and although this was my least favorite so far, I will say that one of her strengths--lovingly depicting flawed human beings and their attempts to do right in the world and to do right by the ones they love--is clearly present in this story.
December 10, 2022
When Owen Quentillian returns to visit Canon Morchard in the idyllic village where he spent his childhood before the First World War, he finds the Canon a self-declared optimist, clinging to the Victorian beliefs about religion, family life and moral values which the war has shattered. Is the Canon a domestic tyrant? Are his children struggling to break free? Or does this family have anything to teach Quentillian about life and how to live it?
E.M. Delafield was a Charlotte Yonge fan, and in this book she takes the typical Yonge paterfamilias, turning everything from talking after bedtime to absolute atheism into an emotional opera which threatens to crush his children under the weight of their fear of disappointing him, and puts him into a post-war world. The Canon himself remains solidly convinced of the rightness of his values to the end, but one by one we see his children’s attempts to find a life of their own. But this is not a simple tale of parental tyranny and thwarted desires. As the book progresses, we see that his children have to make their own choices in life, and part of that is learning that they have free will to make their own choices - no-one is entirely a victim. It’s an easy read but not a light novel. In the end Delafield rejects the tendency of her own day to view human experience as being all about psychology, or The Woman Question, or the need for freedom: people are complex and need love, security, and other things just as much. Will they be happy? Maybe moments of happiness are enough.
E.M. Delafield was a Charlotte Yonge fan, and in this book she takes the typical Yonge paterfamilias, turning everything from talking after bedtime to absolute atheism into an emotional opera which threatens to crush his children under the weight of their fear of disappointing him, and puts him into a post-war world. The Canon himself remains solidly convinced of the rightness of his values to the end, but one by one we see his children’s attempts to find a life of their own. But this is not a simple tale of parental tyranny and thwarted desires. As the book progresses, we see that his children have to make their own choices in life, and part of that is learning that they have free will to make their own choices - no-one is entirely a victim. It’s an easy read but not a light novel. In the end Delafield rejects the tendency of her own day to view human experience as being all about psychology, or The Woman Question, or the need for freedom: people are complex and need love, security, and other things just as much. Will they be happy? Maybe moments of happiness are enough.
August 4, 2020
I loved The Diary of a Provincial Lady, so had high expectations. Alas, they were unfulfilled. I could not empathise with any of the characters and found the situations most irritating.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews