Class 12 English Unit 16: Fantasy: The Romance of a Busy Broker by O’ Henry

 

Unit 16: Fantasy Reading: The Romance of a Busy Broker by O’ Henry

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upcKjo-ERKM

Reflection of the Essay

“Romance of a Busy Broker”, written by the famous American writer O’ Henry, is a love story with a twist. The central character in the story is a busy New York broker called Harvey Maxwell. Harvey Maxwell is such a busy man that the author refers to him as a machine. Every day, as soon as he enters the office, he dashes to his desk and plunges into the many letters and telegrams waiting for him. He has a secretary – a young beautiful lady called Miss Leslie. On the morning of the story, Miss Leslie walked into the office with Harvey Maxwell, blushing and looking happy.  

Unlike her usual routine, this morning, she kept hovering around Maxwell’s desk, trying to get his attention. But Maxwell, surrounded by his mail and telegrams, and bombarded by phone calls, was so busy he hardly paid any attention to her. The previous day, he had asked his clerk Pitcher to hire another secretary. But when his clerk brought in a candidate, Maxwell dismissed the candidate and told Pitcher that he was losing his mind. He announced that he did not have any intention of hiring another secretary, as he was perfectly satisfied with the services of Ms Leslie. The clerk quietly declared that Maxwell was getting more and more absent-minded and forgetful as days passed.

As the day progressed, the speed of business grew faster, and Maxwell was working like a machine. He was lost in the world of finance – stocks, bonds, loans, shares and securities. In the middle of his busy day, suddenly a sweet smell of lilac came in through the window. He recognized the smell as belonging to Ms. Leslie, and suddenly he forgot the world of finance. He could only think about her.  In the spur of the moment, he decided to propose marriage to her. He dashed into her office and asked her to marry him. Miss Leslie acted strangely.

At first, she was totally surprised. Then tears flowed from her eyes and she smiled at him. She then put her arms around his neck and told him that they had already gotten married the previous evening. The story thus ends with a surprise, in classic O’ Henry style.

Working with words

A.   Match the following words with their definitions.

Answers:

Column A	Column B
Snappy	irritable and inclined to speak sharply
Discretion	the ability to behave without causing embarrassment or attracting too much attention
Radiant	showing great happiness, love or health
Irresolute	not able to decide what to do
Brusque	using very few words and sounding rude
Fitful	a quiet period between times of activity
Harlequin	a humorous character in some traditional plays
Lull	Happening only for short periods
Janitress	A lady whose job is to take care of a building such as a school or a block of flats
Speck	A very small spot

B.    Consult a dictionary or search over the internet and write definitions of the following terminologies used in the stock market.

a.      Liquidity /lɪˈkwɪdɪti/: the availability of liquid assets to a market or company

b.     IPO /ʌɪpiːˈəʊ/: a process of offering shares of a private corporation to the public in a new stock issuance (Initial Public Offering)

c.      NEPSE (Nepal Stock Exchange): impart free marketability and liquidity to the government and corporate securities by facilitating transactions on its trading floor

d.     Index /ˈɪndɛks/: a statistical measure of change in a securities market

e.      Portfolio /pɔːtˈfəʊlɪəʊ/: a collection of financial investments like stocks, bonds, commodities, cash, and cash equivalents, including closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

f.       Dividend /ˈdɪvɪdɛnd/: a sum of money paid regularly (typically annually) by a company to its shareholders out of its profits

g.     Turn over: a measure of stock liquidity, calculated by dividing the total number of shares traded during some period by the average number of shares outstanding for the same period.

h.     Margin /ˈmɑːdʒɪn/: the amount of equity an investor has in their brokerage account

C.    Based on the pronunciation, find the odd word from the following groups.

a.      Sell /sɛl/,               cell /sɛl/,               see /siː/,                 set /sɛt/

b.     Stopped /p/+ ed= /t/,        laughed / f/+ed= /t/ ,       

saved /v/ +ed = /d/                   booked / k/ + ed= /t/       wanted/ wɒn tid/

If the final sound is //p, k, θ, ƒ, s, ʃ, ʧ / + ed, it is pronounced as / t/ but if the final sound is /b, ɡ, ð, l, v, ʤ, z, m, n, ŋ / and vowels, it is pronounced as /d/.

c.      Hare /hɛː/,             mere /mɪə/,            beer /bɪə/,              here /hɪə/

d.     So /səʊ/ ,               sew /səʊ/,              sow /səʊ/,              saw /sɔː/

e.      Book /bʊk/,           food /fuːd/,            pool /puːl/,            tool /tuːl/

f.       Fan /fᴂn/ ,             jam /dʒᴂm/,                    past pɑːst/,           van /vᴂn/

g.     Sell / sel/ ,             cell / sel/ ,              sale / seil/ ,            said /sed/

h.     Howl /haʊl/,          bowl /bəʊl/,          fowl /faʊl/,            growl/ɡraʊl/

i.       learn/ləːn/,             verb/vəːb/,            turn/təːn/,              torn /tɔːn/

j.       poor/pʊə/,             sureʃʊə/,                cure/kjʊə/,             dog/dɒɡ/

Video for Diphthong Sounds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI3xTvwYsa8

Comprehension

A.         Write ‘T’ for true statements, ‘F’ for false ones or ‘NG’ if the information is not given in the text.

a.      Harvey Maxwell was a stock broker. True

b.     He was not happy with his clerk, Pitcher. NG

c.      Miss Leslie had been married to Maxell for a year. False

d.     Maxwell had hired a machine to work in his office. NG

e.      He had instructed Pitcher to get a new stenographer. True

f.       Miss Leslie was amazed by Maxwell’s proposal. True

g.     She thought that he had probably gone mad. False

h.     She realized that he had been absent-minded due to his business. True

B.     Answer the following questions.

a.      How did Maxwell enter his office?

Maxwell entered his office briskly with the young lady stenographer and greeting Pitcher by saying “Good Morning”.

b.     Describe the physical appearance of the young lady.

She was beautiful in a way that was decidedly unstenographic. She forewent the pomp of the alluring pompadour. She wore no chains, bracelets, or lockets. She had not the air of being about to accept an invitation to luncheon. Her dress was grey and plain, but it fitted her figure with fidelity and discretion. In her neat black turban hat was the gold-green wing of a macaw. On this morning, she was softly and shyly radiant. Her eyes were dreamily bright, her cheeks genuinely peachblow, her expression a happy one, tinged with reminiscence.

c.      What changes did Pitcher notice in the young lady?

d.     Pitcher noticed a difference in her ways this morning. Instead of going straight into the adjoining room, where her desk was, she lingered, slightly irresolute, in the outer office. Once she moved over to Maxwell’s desk, near enough for him to be aware of her presence.

e.      What was Pitcher’s reply to the young lady concerning a new stenographer?

Pitcher’s reply to the young lady concerning a new stenographer was that Maxwell had already told him to get another stenographer, and then he had notified the agency a day before to send over a few samples that morning, and none of the candidates arrived till the time, except her.

f.       What proposal did Maxwell make to Miss Leslie?

Maxwell made a marriage proposal to Miss Leslie.

g.     How did she react to his proposal?

She acted very queerly when he proposed to her. At first, she seemed overcome with amazement; then tears flowed from her wondering eyes; and then she smiled brightly through them, and one of her arms slid tenderly about the broker’s neck. 

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