The Count and the Wedding Guest

After O. Henry

One evening when Andy Donovan went to dinner at his boarding house on Second Avenue, he was introdu­ced to a new boarder, a young lady Miss Conway. She was small and wore a plain brown dress.

Two weeks later when Andy was sitting on the front steps enjoying his cigar, there was a soft rustle behind and above him. Andy turned his head and could hardly recognize the girl.

Just coming out the door was Miss Conway. She wore a night-black dress, her hat was black and from it fell a veil, filmy as a spider's web. She stood on the top step and drew on black silk gloves. Not a speck of white, or a spot of colour about her dress anywhere. Her rich golden hair was drawn into a shining smooth knot low on her neck. Her face was plain rather than pretty but it was now illuminated and made almost beautiful by her large grey eyes that gaze above the houses across the street into the sky with an expression of the most appealing sadness and melancholy.

"It's a fine clear evening, Miss Conway," he said. "To them that have the heart to enjoy it, it is, Mr. Donovan," said Miss Conway, with a sigh.

"I hope none of your relatives — I hope you haven't sustained a loss?" ventured Mr. Donovan.

"Death has claimed," said Miss Conway, "not a rela­tive but one who is... I will not intrude my grief upon you, Mr. Donovan."

"Intrude!" protested Andy, "Why, Miss Conway, I'd be delighted, that is... I'd be sorry, and I'm sure nobody could sympathize with you truer, than I would, and would you like to take a little stroll in the park and you'd allow me...

"Thanks, Mr. Donovan, I'd be pleased to accept your escort if you think the company of one whose heart is filled with gloom could be agreeable to you."

Through the open gate of the old downtown park they strolled and found a quiet bench.

"He was my fiancé," said Miss Conway at the end of an hour. "We were going to be married next spring. He was a count. He had an estate and a castle in Italy. Count Fernando Mazzini was his name. Papa objected, of course, and once we eloped, but papa overtook us, and took us back. Finally papa said we might be married next spring. Fernando went to Italy to get the castle fixed for us. Three days ago I got a letter from Italy saying that Fernando had been killed in a gondola accident. That is why I am in mourning. My heart will remain for ever in his grave. I cannot take any interest in men. I've got his picture here in my locket; I never showed it to anybody, but I will to you, because I believe you to be a true friend."

Andy gazed long and with much interest at the photograph in the locket that Miss Conway opened for him.

"He gave this the night he left for Italy," said Miss Conway.

"How would it suit you, Miss Conway, to give me the pleasure of your company to Coney next Sunday after­noon?"

A month later they announced their engagement to the boarders. Miss Conway continued to wear black.

One evening the two sat on the same bench in the downtown park. Mr. Donovan had worn a look of abstracted gloom all day.

"What's the matter with you, Andy, you are so solemn tonight."

"Nothing, Maggie."

"I know better, you never acted that way before. I’ll bet, it's some other girl you are thinking about. Why don't you go and get her if you want her?"

"I'll tell you then," said Andy, "but I guess you won’t understand it exactly. You've heard of Mike Sullivan, haven’t you? Big Mike Sullivan, everybody calls him..."

"No, I haven't," said Maggie, "and don't want to, if he makes you act like this."

"Well, Big Mike's my friend. I met him today and told him I was going to get married in two weeks. 'Andy’, says he, 'send me an invitation and I'll come to your wedding', and he always does what he says, but, Maggie, I'd rather have one of my hands cut off than have Big Mike at our wedding. And that's why I may be looking sore tonight. There is a reason why he mustn't be there, don't ask what it is, for I can't tell you."

"Oh, I don't care," said Maggie, "it's something about politics, of course."

"Maggie," said Andy, "do you think so much of me as you did of your... as you did of Count Mazzini?"

He waited for a long time, but she did not reply. And then suddenly she leant against his shoulder and began to cry. "Andy," sobbed Maggie, "I've lied to you and you'll never marry me, or love me any more. But I feel that I've got to tell, Andy, there never was a count. I never had a beau in my life. But all the girls had, and they talked about them and that seemed to make the fellows love them more. And, Andy, I look swell in black — you know I do. So, I went out to a photograph store and bought that picture, and had a little one made for my locket and made up all that story about the Count and about his being killed, so I could wear black. And nobody can love a liar and you'll shake me."

But instead of being pushed away she found Andy's arm folding her closer. She looked up and saw his face cleared and smiling.

"Could you, could you forgive me, Andy?" "Here," said Andy, "you've straightened everything out, Maggie."

"Andy," said Maggie with a shy smile, "did you believe all that story, about the Count?"

"Well, not to any large extent," said Andy, reaching for his cigar-case, "because it's Big Mike Sullivan's picture, you've got in that locket of yours."

Try to check whether you understood the contents of the story "The Count and the Wedding Guest" correctly. Correct the wrong statements.

1. Andy Donovan was introduced to a tall beautiful girl with who he fell in love at first sight.

2. The girl wore a bright red dress.

3. Once she wore a night-black dress, her hat was black and from it fell a veil, filmy as a spider’s web. However, the black colour didn’t become her.

4. Miss Conway said that she was happy, as it was a fine clear evening.

5. Miss Conway agreed to go for a walk with Andy Donovan.

6. The girl told Andy about her fiancé Count Fernando Mazzini who had been killed in a gondola accident.

7. Miss Conway told Andy Donovan that she would never take any interest in men.

8. The girl had her fiancé’s photo in her locket.

9. Andy scarcely looked at the photograph as he was not interested in Miss Conway’s past.

10. They announced their engagement only a year later.

11. One day, as they were sitting on the same bench, Andy looked gloomy as he hesitated if he should marry his fiancée.

12. Mike Sullivan was Miss Conway’s former fiancé.

13. Andy promised to invite Mike Sullivan to his wedding.

14. Maggie confessed that she had never had a fiancé before.

15. When Andy found out that his fiancée had lied to him, he made up his mind to break their engagement.

16. Andy Donovan hadn’t believed that Fernando Mazzini was Miss Conway’s fiancé.

1. Big Mike Sullivan’s picture was in Maggie’s locket.

Text 2

John Lennon

With the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of his first record coming up this year, PLAYBACK looks at the amazing and sometimes controversial life of one of the greatest figures of pop history.

John Lennon was shot and killed outside the apartment block where he lived on December 8th 1980. People all around the world felt a terrible loss. They had grown up with this man's music, and everything he had done had affected their lives. Now it was all over.

The group he had formed, The Beatles, had changed pop music forever. From their first single, ‘Love Me Do', in 1962, people heard something different to the usual pop music of the time. Their songs seemed more musical than others, and more exciting than the kind of thing most artists were then recording. The Beatles also looked nicer than anyone else. Many more people began to listen to pop music than before. Soon the following that the group had was like nothing anyone had ever seen: a hysteria that the newspapers called 'Beatlomania' swept Britain and soon America.

John Lennon was born in Liverpool on October 9th 1940, and formed his first group when he was still at school. He certainly took more interest in music than he did in schoolwork. His report books can still be read and are full of angry comments by his teachers. In 1956 he met Paul McCartney, and McCartney joined Lennon's group, The Quarry Men. The two began to compose songs together, and it was these songs that drew people's attention to them. But their first professional concerts were in Hamburg, Germany, and it was here that they perfected their sound. They had to play night after night, and by the end of their two years there, they had become an exciting band to watch. Lennon was always the rebel and made an impressive figure on stage.

When they moved back to Liverpool, they began to play at the Cavern Club, where all the new bands were playing. But their songs and their professionalism set them apart. They acquired a manager, Brian Epstein, who gave them a new 'clean' image. He tried to get them a record company deal, but at first no one would take them on. Finally it was a small label, Parlophone, who released ‘Love Me Do', a Lennon-McCartney composition.

Their next single, 'Please Please Me' reached number one in March 1963. When the media focused on the new group, it soon became obvious that Lennon was not like other pop stars. His answers to reporters' questions showed an unusual intelligence and wit. His character soon shone out: he always kept his rebellious streak, and hated pretension. He was never quite comfortable with the Beatles' 'nice' image.

In fact it was Lennon who began to break away from this image, and change the public perception of the Beatles. His remarks began to offend some people. His and McCartney's music changed and became more psychedelic. The Beatles grew beards and long hair. They were no longer those four clean-cut young men that even parents liked.

In 1966, Lennon met Japanese artist Yoko Ono. She was not beautiful in the glamorous way many of the Beatles' followers were, but he fell in love with her. To his surprise he found he loved listening to her views on art, and admired her independence. She brought something new to his life, and soon he found there was more he wanted to do on his own, or with Yoko, than he wanted to do with the Beatles. In 1968 he told the other Beatles of his decision to leave, although the real split did not come until 1971, when Paul McCartney also decided their partnership should end. Lennon married Yoko Ono in 1969.

Of all the former Beatles, Lennon made the most promising start as a solo artist. In 1971 he recorded the song by which most people remember him, ‘Imagine’. But in 1975 he stopped making records. For a while he and Yoko separated, partly because of the problems he was having with drugs and alcohol, but eventually he settled down with her again in New York. He devoted himself to looking after their son, Sean, becoming a ‘house husband’ while Yoko was the 'power wife', going out to work. He also spent time trying to become an American citizen, something which was difficult because of his drugs convictions and unpopularity with the government. But John and Yoko were together for good now, even looking forward to old age together. In 1980 he released a new album that celebrated their lives, Double Fantasy and it, and the single 'Just Like Starting Over' seemed to signal a new, positive phase in both his private life and in his musical career. But that came to its end too soon on the street outside his home in December 1980.