The million pound banknote

He received it with a smile. It was one of those large smiles which goes all around the face. There are folds in it, and wrinkles, and spirals, and looks like where you have thrown a brick in a pond. Then when he caught a glimpse of the banknote this smile froze solid. His face turned yellow, and the smile looked like those wavy, wormy spreads of lava which you find hardened on the side of Vesuvius.

I never before saw a smile which froze into place as this one did. The man stood there holding the bill, and looking like that, until the proprietor hustled up to see what was the matter. He said, briskly: 'Well, what's up? what's the trouble? What does the customer still need? Come, come; get him his change, Tod; get him his change.'

Tod retorted 'Get him his change! It's easy to say, Sir; but look at the bill yourself.' The proprietor took a look and gave a low, eloquent whistle. Then he made a dive for the pile of rejected clothing. He began to toss the clothes this way and that, talking all the time excitedly, and as if to himself;

'Sell an eccentric millionaire such a terrible suit as that! Tod's a fool - a born fool. Always doing something like this. Drives every millionaire away from this place, because he can't tell a millionaire from a tramp, and never could. Ah, here's the thing I am after. Please get those things off, Sir, and throw them in the fire.'

Vocabulary:

Wrinkles: Where something smooth has been pushed out of shape
Glimpse: A quick look
Wormy: Long, thin and wriggly
Vesuvius: A volcano
Proprietor: The ownder of a business
Hustle: To move in a busy way
Retort: Reply with some force
Eloquent: Full of meaning
Toss: Throw up into the air and let fall
Eccentric: Here it means 'different but harmless'
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