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Try to take some broth now, and let Sudie go back to her drawing, so she can sell the editor man with it, and buy port wine for her sick child, and pork chops for her greedy self.
Johnsy has informed Sue that she will die when the last leaf of the ivy vine falls. Although Sue is fearful, she tries to conceal it. With Johnsy, she downplays the illness despite the doctor’s grim prognosis. Here she speaks to Johnsy like a mother would speak to a child, referring to herself as “Sudie,” calling her editor “the editor man,” and labeling Johnsy “her sick child.” This shows Sue’s nurturing and protective feelings for her friend. The sentence also stresses the bleak financial situation the two women are in. Sue needs to sell work to feed herself as well as Johnsy. She does not create work to express herself, but to procure necessities such as food and medicine.
Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece—he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.
After Johnsy has begun her recovery, Sue informs her of Mr. Behrman’s death. Sue’s words deliver the twist ending of the story. But they also show her characteristically positive spin on the sad news. She sees the painted leaf as Behrman’s masterpiece, not only because it was realistic enough to fool Johnsy, but also because of the selflessness, sacrifice, and love it expresses. In other words, she helps Johnsy—and the reader as well—to understand the meaning of Behrman’s self-sacrifice.
