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The Life Of Mr. Pneumonia

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O . H e n r y p T h e L a s t L e a f IN A SMALL PART OF THE CITY WEST OF Washington Square, the streets have gone wild. They turn in different directions. They are broken into small pieces called “places.” One street goes across itself one or two times. A painter once discovered something possible and valuable about this street. Suppose a painter had some painting materials for which he had not paid. Suppose he had no money. Suppose a man came to get the money. The man might walk down that street and suddenly meet himself coming back, without having received a cent! This part of the city is called Greenwich Village. And to old Greenwich Village the painters soon came. Here they found rooms they like, with good light and at a low cost. 12 T h e L a s t L e a f Sue and …show more content…

On the east side of the city he hurried, touching many people; but in the narrow streets of Greenwich Village he did not move so quickly. Mr. Pneumonia was not a nice old gentleman. A nice old gentleman would not hurt a weak little woman from California. But Mr. Pneumonia touched Johnsy with his cold fingers. She lay on her bed almost without moving, and she looked through the window at the wall of the house next to hers. One morning the busy doctor spoke to Sue alone in the hall, where Johnsy could not hear. “She has a very small chance,” he said. “She has a chance, if she wants to live. If people don’t want to live, I can’t do much for them. Your little lady has decided that she is not going to get well. Is there something that is troubling her?” “She always wanted to go to Italy and paint a picture of the Bay of Naples,” said Sue. “Paint! Not paint. Is there anything worth being troubled about? A man?” “A man?” said Sue. “Is a man worth—No, doctor. There is not a man.” “It is weakness,” said the doctor. “I will do all I know how to do. But when a sick person begins to feel that he’s going to die, half my work is useless. Talk to her about new winter clothes. If she were interested

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