LIEUTENANT CROMBIE
1917
A MAN OF DUTY
Lieutenant Crombie is a man shaped by duty, discipline and the quiet dignity expected of a military officer in the early twentieth century. In 1917, however, his life has been overtaken by a grave illness.
Though physically weakened, he retains the composure and formality that have defined him throughout his life. Even as his health deteriorates, Crombie remains very much a man of his era—reserved, proper and determined to face his circumstances with dignity.
A JOURNEY FOR HIS HEALTH
Acting on the advice of his physician, Lieutenant Crombie travels with his wife Daphne to Algonquin Park, where the clean northern air and peaceful surroundings are believed to offer some hope of recovery.
Their stay near Canoe Lake places the couple within the small community surrounding Mowat Lodge during the summer of 1917. For Lieutenant Crombie, the journey is made in search of better health. For Daphne, it will become an experience whose memories remain with her for the rest of her life.
DUTY AND DEVOTION
Lieutenant Crombie’s illness places Daphne in the role of both wife and caretaker, at a time when duty, propriety and social expectation defined much of a woman’s place within a marriage.
His presence in the story therefore reaches beyond his own circumstances. Through their relationship, we see some of the responsibilities and emotional constraints that shaped Daphne’s world—and influenced the memories and choices she would carry with her long after the summer of 1917.