# XXI explained — The Perennial Bachelor

> Chapter companion for The Perennial Bachelor by Anne Parrish.

## What happens

Victor works in a real estate office, dreaming of Lucy while she travels through Europe. Her letters alternately lift and crush his spirits, mentioning a charming Mr. Duncan. After two years, Lucy writes to break their engagement, announcing her betrothal to a French count. Victor is devastated, and Maggie comforts him, blaming Lucy's mother and urging him not to let love turn to bitterness.

## Themes in this chapter

### Unfulfilled Love and Marriage

Victor's love for Lucy remains unfulfilled as she breaks their engagement to marry a French count, leaving Victor heartbroken.

### Social Class and Decline

Victor's modest salary and daily routine contrast with Lucy's wealthy lifestyle and her marriage to a titled European, highlighting class differences.

## Character check-ins

### Victor Campion

Working in a real estate office, pining for Lucy, and devastated by her engagement to a French count.

### Lucy Hawthorn

Traveling in Europe, sending letters that alternately encourage and discourage Victor, and finally breaking their engagement.

### Maggie Campion

Comforts Victor after Lucy's letter, blaming Lucy's mother and urging Victor not to become bitter.

## Key lines

> Victor, like Lucy’s ship, went up and down, as his angel’s voice called to him from across the sea that she was missing him so that she nearly died , or that the gentlemen of Ireland were the most awful flatterers, but somehow you couldn’t get angry.

Victor's emotions fluctuated like a ship at sea, swayed by Lucy's letters from abroad, which alternately claimed she missed him terribly or complained about Irish flatterers.

_Illustrates Victor's emotional instability and dependence on Lucy's correspondence._

> He sat at his desk and licked stamps, led prospective customers to small brick houses, and swept out the office when the janitor was drunk, through a pink and gold and forget-me-not blue haze⁠—a rainbow dream of Lucy.

Victor performed mundane tasks at his job while daydreaming of Lucy, seeing his surroundings through a romanticized haze.

_Highlights Victor's dissatisfaction with his work and his idealization of Lucy._

> “Victor! Here we are in la Belle France! Paris ⁠—I can’t believe it. It is all my fancy painted it and much , much more, such a whirl, the darlingest dresses, though I can’t expect your highness to be interested in them , such gloves, such bonbons! Then the Opera, which is divine , I nearly cried my eyes out at ‘Faust’ the other night, and driving in the Bois, and all Mamma’s friends being hospitality itself to us. And yet I am homesick⁠—can you guess why?”

Lucy writes enthusiastically about Paris, describing the dresses, opera, and social life, but hints that she is homesick for Victor.

_Shows Lucy's excitement about her travels and her teasing affection for Victor._

> “I hate to write this letter, as I am so afraid it will hurt you, but I couldn’t bear to have you hear from anyone but me of my engagement. I am going to marry Count René de la Villeblanche, the son of one of Mamma’s great friends, and I am very happy. You and I were only children, weren’t we, Victor? I realize that now.”

Lucy writes to Victor to inform him of her engagement to a French count, dismissing their relationship as childish and asking for his understanding.

_The letter that breaks Victor's heart and ends their romantic relationship._

> “Don’t, Victor, don’t, she isn’t worth it.”

Maggie tries to comfort Victor by telling him that Lucy is not worth his tears.

_Maggie's attempt to console her brother and her protective anger toward Lucy._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_perennial_bachelor_se/chapters/xxi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_perennial_bachelor_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_perennial_bachelor_se/chapters