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Text 12
THE £ 1,000,000 BANKNOTE

Mark Twain

When I was twenty-seven years old, I was a clerk in San
Francisco. I was alone in the world, and had nothing to depend upon
but my wits and a clean reputation; but I hoped to be rich some day.
One Saturday afternoon my little sail-boat was carried out to
sea. When hope was almost gone, I was picked up by a small vessel
which was bound for London. It was a long and stormy voyage and
when I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and
shabby, and I had only a dollar in my pocket. This money fed and
sheltered me for twenty-four hours. During the next twenty-four I
went without food and shelter.
About ten o'clock on the following morning, when I was about
to pick from the gutter a juicy big ear thrown there by a child, a
window behind me was raised, and a gentleman spoke out of it,
saying:
"Step in here, please".
Now, something had been happening there a little before,
which I did not know anything about until many days afterwards, but
I will tell you about it now.
You probably remember that the Bank of England once issued
two notes of a million pounds each. These notes were to be used for a
special purpose connected with some public transaction with a
foreign country. For some reason-only one of these had been used
and canceled; the other still lay in the vaults of the Bank. Well, a
couple of elderly brothers, during a conversation, happened to
wonder, what might be the fate of a perfectly honest and intelligent
stranger without a friend, and with no money, but that million- pound
banknote, and nobody to account for it. Brother A said he would
starve to death; Brother B said he wouldn't. Brother A said he
couldn't offer it at a bank or anywhere else, because he would be
immediately arrested. So they went on disputing till Brother B said he
would bet twenty thousand pounds that the man would live thirty
days, anyway, on that million, and keep out of jail, too. Brother A
took him up. Brother B went to-the Bank and bought that note. Then