In order to portray the character and to render the idea vividly and convincingly the following stylistic devices are used. Among lexical expressive means we can see metaphors: “a habit of his mind” is employed to show the bewilderment of  the main character and his tries to understand why his lovely has not chosen him; “the garments of his soul” , “incanse of her admiration”,“the joints in his armor” are used to promote the idea of  Trysdale's low moral qualities; “wave of her hair” is used to depict the  delicate beauty of the woman, “bitter wraith of a smile”,”prich of the thorn” is used to show the late penitence of the main character.

There are some examples of metonymy in the story under analysis: “he laid his mightiness at her feet” is employed to show  Trysdale's fillings to her beloved; “guilt rests upon my shoulders”.

  We can find some cases of simile in the story: “White favors like stars upon their coats shone through the gloom of the apartment”  is used to create an image of celebration which was left by Trysdale; “she fluttered like a snared bird” reveals the emotive elevation of woman who is going to marry a man she loves; “He had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain” helps to understand how Trysdale loves flattery.

Personification also takes place in the text under analyses: “drawling words of the minister irrevocably binding her to another”“passed through Trysdale's mind a swift, scarifying retrospect”, “Shaken rudely by the uncompromising fact” are used to depict the suffering of the main character.

A lot of epithets are used in the text under consideration:” odorous masses, well-bred voices, crisp garments,drawling words”, ”his own innermost, unmitigated, arid unbedecked self”, “poor consolation”, “swift, limpid, upward look”, “swift, scarifying retrospect”,“convincing beauty” are used to describe the events and characters more vividly.

Among lexical expressive means we can see  hyperbole: “She had invested him with an almost supernatural number of high attributes and excellencies and talents” is employed to show love of  Trysdale to his beloved; “For the thousandth time he remarshalled in his mind the events of those last few days before the tide had so suddenly turned” conveys the confusion of the main character.

In order  to show the tragedy and growing tension of the situation  for  Trysdale gradarion  is employed (“It seemed that in his nostrils was still the scent of the flowers that had been banked in odorous masses about the church, and in his ears the lowpitched hum of a thousand well-bred voices, the rustle of crisp garments, and, most insistently recurring, the drawling words of the minister irrevocably binding her to another”).

A case of oxymoron (“sullen exultation, exhibition of doubtful erudition”)  is used to show the foolishness of Trysdale`s actions. I order to criticize  Trysdale`s self-perception and abnormal pride irony is imployed: “The scene was the night when he had asked her to come up on his pedestal with him and share his greatness. ”

A combination of these expressive means and stylistic devices makes O. Henry's style highly original and easily recognizable.

As for the syntactic expressive means and stylistic devices: rhetoric guestions are also used in the story under  consideration:” Vanity and conceit?, But why ?, Why had it ended thus?”. They are used to reflect the inner world of the main character, his shock   and perplexity.

Asyndeton (“As he slowly unbuttoned his gloves, there passed through Trysdale's mind a swift, scarifying retrospect of the last few hours, indeed, his conceit had crumbled; its last prop was gone”), polysyndeton (“She had invested him with an almost supernatural number of high attributes and excellencies and talents, and he had absorbed the oblation as a desert drinks the rain that can coax from it no promise of blossom or fruit.”) and anaphora (How glad, how shy, how tremulous she was! How she fluttered like a snared bird when he laid his mightiness at her feet!) are employed to convey the inner straggle of the main character.

      In order to emphasize the main idea inversion is used: “Thus, and wider from this on, they had drifted apart”. To render the idea of incompletion of Trysdale`s thoughts aposiopesis is used: “Humbled now, he sought the answer amid the ruins of his self-conceit. If…..”.

We can also meet some cases of graphons in the story under analyzis. The word “Time” in the very     beginning    of    the    story is   capitalized and personified to reveal its relativity.