Tec The £1,000,000 Bank-Note Grade 7 · English Reader
Chapter 17 · A Comic Short Story

The £1,000,000 Bank-Note

A penniless stranger, a strange wager, and a note nobody can change

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Tec — The Education Consultancy | Grade 7 English Lesson & Worksheet

At twenty-seven, the narrator had been a mining-broker's clerk in San Francisco, with nothing to his name but his wits and a clean reputation. One Saturday, while out sailing in the bay, he was carried too far from shore and swept out to sea; rescued at nightfall by a small brig bound for London, he stepped off the ship with just a single dollar in his pocket. That dollar fed and sheltered him for a day — and then he was penniless, hungry, and without a roof over his head.

The next morning, seedy and starving, he found himself on Portland Place watching a child toss aside a half-eaten pear. Desperate with hunger, he longed to snatch it from the gutter, but shame held him back each time a passer-by's eye caught him edging towards it. Just as he was about to give in and grab it anyway, a window above him opened, and a gentleman's voice invited him inside.

Inside sat two elderly, wealthy brothers who had made an unusual wager: one believed that a poor, honest stranger, given nothing but an enormous, unspendable banknote, could somehow survive a month in London without starving, stealing, or landing in jail; the other doubted it. After watching countless people pass their window — some honest but not clever, some clever but not honest, few both poor and unknown to them — they decided the narrator fit their requirements perfectly. He was handed a sealed envelope and told to open it privately at his lodgings, without acting rashly.

Once alone, he tore open the envelope — and discovered, to his astonishment, a banknote worth a staggering one million pounds. Half-starved, he rushed to the cheapest eating house he could find and ate his fill; only afterwards, unfolding the note properly, did the sheer size of the sum truly sink in, and he very nearly fainted on the spot. Certain there had been some mistake, he hurried back to the brothers' house to return it — only to learn from the servant that they had already left for the Continent, with no word of when they might return or how to reach them.

Now he faced an impossible situation: he was carrying more money than he could ever hope to spend, yet not a single shopkeeper in London could give him change for a million-pound note, and simply being caught without any usable money at all could see him arrested as a vagrant. With no way to track the brothers down, he resolved to survive on credit instead — trusting that people would take him at his word once they had reason to believe he was good for the money.

Still dressed in rags, he ventured into a tailor's shop hoping only for a cheap, rejected suit — until an assistant's sarcastic remark about "gentlemen who carry large bills" nettled him into handing over the note simply to prove he could pay. The assistant's polite, practised smile froze mid-motion the instant he glimpsed its value — hardening, as the story goes, "like the wormy waves on a solidified custard" — and in that one frozen expression, the whole shop suddenly understood exactly who had just walked through their door.

Vocabulary

seedy — dirty-looking and shabby
nettled — annoyed; stung
perpetuated — continued for a long time
persecuted — pestered or harassed
indeterminable — impossible to determine precisely
luscious — richly sweet and delicious in taste or smell
attend — to see to; to wait on
the Continent — the mainland of Europe

Worksheet — The £1,000,000 Bank-Note

Comprehension · Vocabulary · Sequencing — Grade 7

Name:
Class:
Date:
Score:
A. Multiple Choice Questions
1.What was the narrator's job before he was shipwrecked?
A bank manager
A mining-broker's clerk in San Francisco✓
A tailor
A ship's captain
2.How did the narrator end up in London?
He sailed there on purpose
He was carried out to sea and rescued by a brig bound for London✓
He inherited a house there
He was sent there for work
3.What tempted the starving narrator on Portland Place, but he was too ashamed to take?
A loaf of bread
A half-eaten pear in the gutter✓
A coin on the pavement
An apple from a cart
4.Who called the narrator in off the street?
A policeman
A tailor
Two wealthy elderly brothers✓
A ship's captain
5.What bet had the two brothers made?
Whether it would rain that month
Whether a poor honest stranger could survive a month with a million-pound note✓
Whether the narrator could find a job
Whether a stranger could sail to America
6.What was inside the envelope the brothers gave the narrator?
A letter of introduction
A million-pound banknote✓
A ship ticket home
A set of keys
7.Why couldn't the narrator get change for the note?
It was a forgery
It was too enormous a sum for anyone to break✓
The banks were closed
He had lost it
8.What happened when the narrator went back to the brothers' house?
They gave him more money
He found they had left for the Continent for a month✓
They called the police
They asked for the note back
9.Why did the narrator visit a tailor's shop?
To sell the note
To get decent clothes, since his own were ragged✓
To meet the brothers
To ask for directions
10.How did the tailor's assistant react on seeing the million-pound note?
He laughed it off as a joke
His polite smile froze in astonishment✓
He refused to serve the narrator
He called for the police
B. True or False
  • 1. The narrator was a wealthy man right from the start of the story.
    TrueFalse
  • 2. The narrator was shipwrecked and arrived penniless in London.
    TrueFalse
  • 3. The narrator managed to grab the pear from the gutter without any shame.
    TrueFalse
  • 4. Two brothers picked the narrator for a bet about surviving a month with a huge banknote.
    TrueFalse
  • 5. The narrator knew exactly what was in the envelope before he opened it.
    TrueFalse
  • 6. Nobody could give the narrator change for the million-pound note.
    TrueFalse
  • 7. The brothers left clear instructions on how to reach them abroad.
    TrueFalse
  • 8. The tailor's assistant was completely calm and unimpressed by the note.
    TrueFalse
C. Match the Words with Their Meanings
1. seedy → (a)
2. nettled → (b)
3. perpetuated → (c)
4. persecuted → (d)
5. indeterminable → (e)
a. dirty-looking and shabby
b. annoyed; stung
c. continued for a long time
d. pestered or harassed
e. impossible to determine precisely
D. Put the Events in Correct Order (1–6)
  • The narrator discovers the envelope contains a million-pound note.
  • The narrator is shipwrecked and arrives penniless in London.
  • The narrator visits a tailor's shop and reveals the note, shocking the staff.
  • Starving, the narrator eyes a discarded pear but is too ashamed to take it.
  • The narrator finds the brothers have left for the Continent for a month.
  • Two brothers call the narrator inside and give him a sealed envelope.
E. Short Answer Questions
1. Why was the narrator penniless and desperate when he arrived in London?
He had been swept out to sea while sailing and rescued by a brig bound for London, arriving with just a single dollar, which was quickly used up.
2. What kind of bet had the two brothers made, and why did they choose the narrator?
They had bet on whether a poor, honest stranger could survive a month in London with an unspendable million-pound note; they chose the narrator because, unlike everyone else they had watched, he was both honest, poor, and unknown to them.
3. Why couldn't the narrator simply spend or exchange the million-pound note?
The note was for such an enormous sum that no shopkeeper or landlord could possibly provide change for it, making it effectively impossible to use for ordinary, everyday purchases.
4. Why did the narrator decide to try living on credit instead of avoiding shops altogether?
With the brothers gone for a month and no way to reach them, he had no other means of support, so he had to trust that people would extend him credit once they believed he was good for the money.
5. In your own words, what does the tailor's assistant's frozen smile suggest about how people treat others based on appearances and wealth?
Open-ended — accept answers that reflect: people often judge others by their clothes and apparent wealth rather than their character, and the same person can be treated with contempt or with awe depending only on what money they seem to have. (Teacher's discretion for wording.)
Tec Tec — The Education Consultancy | Grade 7 English Lesson & Worksheet