The story was written in January 1922 in the space of just 4–5 hours, and was published in a popular magazine, the “Story-Teller”, in May of the same year.
Rosemary was a wealthy woman, who had been married for
two years to a very rich man, Philip Fell, who adored his family. Though she
was not very pretty, she made up for it as she lived in extreme style and
fashion. She always enjoyed organizing parties for important people and artists.
She liked shopping in a perfect florist’s in Regent Street and also loved collecting
antiques.
One rainy winter afternoon, after leaving an antique
shop, Rosemary felt a bit upset, because she had not been able to buy an
exquisite little box. Suddenly a poor
young girl came up to her and asked for the price of a cup of tea. Rosemary
thought of doing something generous, like in the novels of Dostoevsky, and
invited her to her house. Rosemary wanted to show that those nice things that
happened in novels and fairy tales, about generous rich people, happened in real
life also. At the beginning, the girl didn’t believe Rosemary, even suspected
that the lady might hand her over to the police, but at last Rosemary took her
home.
When they arrived at Rosemary’s house, she took the
girl up to her bedroom and made her sit near the fire on a comfortable chair.
Rosemary even had to help her take off her coat and hat, because she was very
weak, but threw them on the floor. The poor girl cried and complained that life
was too hard and that she was so tired of living. Then Rosemary consoled her
and asked her servant to bring some food and tea.
When she was going to begin asking the girl about her
life, her husband Philip came in. He was astonished to see the girl in his
wife’s room, and he asked her to go to the library, where he tried to tell her that
she couldn’t have a stranger in the house. Facing a refusal, he used the old
jealousy trick and he praised the girl’s beauty. So Rosemary went out of the
library, took three pounds, gave them to the girl and sent her away.
Afterwards, Rosemary dressed up, put on some makeup and
tried to attract the attention of her husband. At the end, Rosemary didn’t know
if she was pretty enough for him, and she wasn’t sure if Philip loved her
either.
Some Reflections
Rosemary is also a prototype of jealousy and insecurity. When Philips praises the girl’s beauty, she forgets her good intentions and sends the girl away.
QUESTIONS
-The protagonist says “I hate lilac”. And the attendant “put the lilac out of sight”. So strong of the power of money? Can you give some more curious examples?
-Remember the seller in the “antique shop”: can you give some tips as to how to be a very good shopkeeper?
-Why would / wouldn’t you buy second hand things?
-What do you think of philanthropy? Do you think it’s a way to help poor people, or you think it’s useless for the poor and hypocrisy for the donor?
-Are all the women sisters (in their fight for their rights)?
-Are rich people more natural than poor people? Do you think very rich people belong to another species? Is it easy to recognize them?
-“If people wanted helping, they must respond a little”. How true is this sentence? Must you always accept charity?
-Is being very formal a feature of rich people, like when Philip says “Oh, what’s happened? Previous engagement?”
VOCABULARY
duck, beamed, cherub, plied, vile, pick-up, bowled over