English · Chapter 33
Study notes aligned to the official NEB syllabus.
This Language Development unit of the NEB Grade 12 Compulsory English textbook is built around the theme of fantasy, the world of imagination, dreams and events that stretch or escape ordinary reality. Its reading text is O. Henry's short story "The Romance of a Busy Broker", a brief and witty tale set in a New York stockbroker's office, where the pressure of business becomes so overwhelming that a man forgets the most important event of his own life. Around the story the unit provides comprehension questions, vocabulary work, a grammar section, a listening or speaking activity on imaginative themes, and a writing task that calls for the student's own imagination.
"The Romance of a Busy Broker" opens at the start of a working day in the office of Harvey Maxwell, a Manhattan stockbroker. Pitcher, his confidential clerk, notices something unusual: Maxwell arrives at half past nine in the company of his young stenographer, Miss Leslie, and greets the office with a brisk "Good morning" before rushing to his desk and diving into the heap of letters and telegrams waiting for him.
Miss Leslie is described as a quiet, attractive young woman. She dresses plainly, in grey, and does not wear the flashy ornaments of the typical stenographer. This morning, however, there is a softness about her: her cheeks are faintly flushed and her eyes are dreamy. Instead of going straight to her own room she lingers near Maxwell's desk, hoping he will speak to her. He does not look up, treating her like part of the office furniture, and she goes away puzzled.
Pitcher then informs her that Maxwell had told him the day before to arrange for a new stenographer from the employment agency. Miss Leslie is surprised, but she answers calmly that she will keep doing her work as usual until someone is appointed to take her place. Soon a candidate arrives from the agency, a showy young woman with a loud manner, and Maxwell dismisses her impatiently, insisting that he gave no such order and that Miss Leslie is to stay for as long as she is satisfied with the post. Pitcher is baffled by his employer's forgetfulness.