Read the first paragraph from O. Henry’s story “The Gift of the Magi.” “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent *imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.”

[*imputation of parsimony: accusation of stinginess]

Why did the author use this paragraph to open his story?

A. It produces tension that foreshadows later events in the story.
B. It slows the pace of the story so events do not proceed too quickly.
C. It creates a conversational tone, as if someone were telling the story aloud.
D. It reveals important information about one of the story’s important characters.