The Trimmed Lamp and Other Story - O. Henry

"The Last Leaf" is a short story by O. Henry published in 1907 in his collection The Trimmed Lamp and Other Story. The story is set in Greenwich Village during a pneumonia epidemic. It tells the story of an old artist who saves the life of a young neighboring artist, dying of pneumonia, by giving her the will to live. Through her window she can see an old vine (growing on a nearby wall), gradually shedding its leaves as autumn turns into winter, and she has taken the thought into her head that she will die when the last leaf falls. The leaves fall day by day, but the last lone leaf stays on for several days. The ill woman's health quickly recovers. At story's end, we learn that the old artist, who always wanted to produce a masterpiece painting but had never had any success, had one night spent considerable time painting with great realism a leaf on the wall. Furthermore, the old artist himself dies of pneumonia contracted while being out in the wet and cold.

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