The million pound banknote

I said that in the gossip column I ranked above all dukes not royal. Therefore I claimed precedence on this occasion. The matter couldn't be settled, of course, struggle as we might - and we did. So we all went in a procession back to the drawing-room again and ate lunch - for lunch you get a plate of sardines and a strawberry, and you stand in a group and eat it.

Here the religion of precedence is not so strenuous. The two persons of highest rank toss a coin, the one that wins is the first to start eating his strawberry, and the loser gets the shilling. The next two toss a coin, then the next two, and so on. After lunch, tables were brought out, and we all played cribbage. We bet sixpence a game. The English never play any game for amusement. They won't play if they can't win something or lose something, and they don't care which.

We had a lovely time; certainly two of us had, Miss Langham and I. I was so bewitched with her that I couldn't count my hands if the points went too high. When I won a game I never noticed and just started again. I would have lost every game, only the girl did the same. You see she was in just the same condition as I. Consequently neither of us ever got out, or cared to wonder why we didn't; we just knew we were happy, and didn't wish to know anything else, and didn't want to be interrupted.

Vocabulary:

Rank: A way of showing who is more important
Claim: To say something is either true or yours
Struggle: To have a strong contest
Strenuous: Hard, tough or strict
Cribbage: A card game scored on a board
Bewitched: As if affected by magic
Got out: Here it means finished the game