I earned it by thirty days' judicious use of that little loan you let me have. 'The Million Pound Bank Note' is a short story that Mark Twain published towards the end of his writing career. And in it everything a body could desire, including cosy coal fire and supper standing ready. I never before saw a smile caught like that, and perpetuated. Don't be afraid to call me by my nickname; I'm used to it. About ten o'clock on the following morning, seedy and hungry, I was dragging myself along Portland Place, when a child that was passing, towed by a nurse-maid, tossed a luscious big pear - minus one bite - into the gutter. God be merciful to you forever! Two very rich and eccentric brothers spot him and give him an envelope with no information. Synopsized, it amounted to this: He had come to England with what he thought was a grand opportunity; he had an "option" to sell the Gould and Curry Extension for the "locators" of it, and keep all he could get over a million dollars. "Oh, my dearest dear sir, I want to take back what I said. He gripped my hand hard, and braced up, and was all right and lively after that for the dinner - which didn't come off. The situation, you know. ", "N-o; if my being with you would help hearten you. The story's conflict arises from the difficulty of the predicament; how does a penniless man explain how he lawfully came to possess a million pound note? I was admitted by a gorgeous flunkey, and shown into a sumptuous room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting. Study.com has thousands of articles about every What in the nation she could find to laugh about I couldn't see, but there it was; every half-minute some new detail would fetch her, and I would have to stop as much as a minute and a half to give her a chance to settle down again. • Just keep up those looks, and trust to me. Now, then, Lloyd, unreel your story while I brew. Let the minor customers wait. By this time I was tramping the streets again. You see there was just that element of impending disaster to give a serious side, a sober side, yes, a tragic side, to a state of things which would otherwise have been purely ridiculous. He wanted to look at it, and keep on looking at it; he couldn't seem to get enough of it to quench the thirst of his eye, but he shrank from touching it as if it had been something too sacred for poor common clay to handle. He modified his style a little at that, and said, though still with something of an air: "I didn't mean any particular harm, but as long as rebukes are going, I might say it wasn't quite your affair to jump to the conclusion that we couldn't change any note that you might happen to be carrying around. Henry realizes the danger of his inexplicable posessession of the note while appearing as a pauper—eventually revealed as the subject of the bet—but his cunning instead lands … They seated us, and were very polite to me, and very solicitous to relieve her from embarrassment, and put her as much at her ease as they could. If you have won for me, you shall have any situation in my gift. Don't take my word unsupported.". © copyright 2003-2020 Study.com. It'll all come out right.". ", "Henry, this is a serious thing. It didn't surprise them; they knew I would know enough to consult the directory. "But wait, wait! "A month! The fellow worked up a most sarcastic expression of countenance, and said: "Oh, you haven't? I wish I hadn't come. Won't you do it? I was right on the point of coming out with the words, "Lloyd, I'm a pauper myself - absolutely penniless, and in debt!" And it was natural; for I had become one of the notorieties of the metropolis of the world, and it turned my head, not just a little, but a good deal. ", "Helping, dear? As I approached the house my excitement began to abate, for all was quiet there, which made me feel pretty sure the blunder was not discovered yet. One could argue that the brothers are portrayed as insensitive and cruel, dangling money in front of someone who needs it. You'll know why, by and by. I had forgotten the letter; I got it out and read it. ", "Henry, I'm ashamed of you. Please change it; I haven't anything else.".
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