Why does Jimmy ask Annabel for the rose shes wearing before he cracks open the safe in a retrieved reformation?

In O.Henry’s ”A Retreived Reformation,” the main characters are Jimmy and Annabel. Jimmy is known as being a person who used to get in trouble with the law. His crimes usually included being able to pick locks and open safes to steal the money from banks.

However, he has learned the error of his ways and is trying to live a straight live free of crime. However, he doesn’t want people to know that he was once a criminal and get put back in jail. When someone gets stuck in the vault, he must give up his identity and open the safe.

He asks Annabel for the rose she’s wearing before he cracks open the safe because he knows he will be spotted and have to leave town. He wants the rose to remember her by.

This is a story written by O.Henry. it is about a man named Jimmy who is a known bank robber with an expertise in cracking safes. Jimmy has just been released from prison and is about to go rob another bank when he sees a beautiful girl. He falls in love with her and she is the banker’s daughter. Jimmy is trying to escape his old life so he chooses a new name and career. At this point, he wants nothing to do with his old ways.

One day, Jimmy and his girlfriend walk into the bank. The detective who suspects Jimmy in several robberies is in the bank. A child accidentally locks herself in the new safe at the bank. Jimmy unlocks it even though he knows it will reveal who he is. He takes the rose to remember Annabel.