Audiobook
Andy Donovan, a young man who lived in a boarding house, met a new boarder called Miss Conway and almost immediately felt in love with her. Miss Conway was a very discreet woman, but one day she appeared gorgeously dressed in mourning black. Mr Donovan got astounded seeing her so beautifully attired, but respected her grief and offered her to share her feelings and to listen to her sad story.
She told him she was on the point of marrying an Italian Count, Fernando Mazzini, but unfortunately, he had an accident and he died. The girl was unconsolably sorry, and Donovan felt pity for her. In telling her story, the girl even showed a picture of her late fiancé.
So, Donovan, even as he knew it would be a difficult
enterprise for him to try to replace the charm of her dead boyfriend, after a month he
succeeded in getting her love.
Once they announced their engagement, Donovan told
her he was a bit worried because he had to invite a close friend of his to
their wedding and didn’t know if she would like it. The man was "Big Mike" Sullivan and,
although he was a very important person in New York, he had friends in all the
social classes. But there was a reason why he couldn’t invite him to the
wedding, and he couldn’t discover it. He asked her if she really loved him more
than he loved Count Mazzini, and at that moment she went down and started to cry. Yes, she
loved Donovan, but she lied about her past. So, she asked him if she would
forgive her.
Who was Big Mike? What was the lie?
QUESTIONS
-What can it be the difference between pity and love?
Have you read the novel Beware of Pity, by Stefan Zweig? (There is also
a film)
-We don’t know anything about the life of the two
protagonists. Can you imagine what kind of life they lived?
-Why is Big Mike important? What, according to you,
was his job?
-What do you know about Mazzini? And about Tammany?
P’pkispee? The Bowery, in New York?
VOCABULARY
unobtrusive, blighted, hop-skip-and-a-jump, hoisted,
cinch, mullygrubs, stringing, livery, trousseau, locked, to the mustard, look
swell, Bully girl!