The Model Millionaire | ICSE Class 9 English Literature Notes

This note covers Oscar Wilde’s authorial voice, the story’s sequence, Hughie Erskine and the other characters, generosity, appearances, wealth, artistic attitudes, the title, key quotations, difficult vocabulary and close reading.

Who wrote the text, and how does its opening establish the setting?

Oscar Wilde and the short story

Oscar Wilde wrote The Model Millionaire, a short story about an unsuccessful young man whose kindness brings an unexpected change in fortune. The story first appeared in 1887 and was issued in collected form in 1891. Its subtitle is A Note of Admiration.

A short story is a brief prose narrative, or story told in ordinary sentences, concentrating on a limited sequence of events. Here, an encounter in a painter’s studio connects a difficulty about marriage with a surprising act of generosity.

Wilde’s narrator, the voice telling the story, describes the characters from outside their conversation. This voice can explain Hughie’s feelings while also making amusing comments about money, social success and the relationship between personal charm and practical ability.

London, money and marriage

The action takes place in London. Hughie visits the painter Alan Trevor while travelling to Holland Park, where Laura Merton and her father live. Later scenes occur at the Palette Club and at Hughie’s home. These places connect friendship, love and money.

The opening presents wealth as necessary for romance. Yet the apparently impractical Hughie eventually gains the means to marry through a compassionate action. This creates irony, a contrast between an apparent expectation and what the story reveals.

The opening’s hard view of money should therefore be considered alongside the ending. Financial difficulty is real for Hughie, but financial success is not his strongest quality. His treatment of a stranger gives the reader another way to assess his worth.

What happens in the story, section by section?

Summary, part 1: Hughie’s unsuccessful career and love

Hughie Erskine is handsome, popular and good-natured, but unsuccessful at making money. His father leaves him a cavalry sword, a sword used by mounted soldiers, and a fifteen-volume history of the Peninsular War. His regular support is an allowance of two hundred pounds a year from an old aunt.

He tries the Stock Exchange, tea trading and selling dry sherry, a kind of wine. The Stock Exchange is a market for buying and selling investments. None of these attempts gives him an established profession, and he remains financially dependent.

Hughie and Laura Merton love each other. Her father, a retired Colonel, is fond of Hughie but refuses to consider an engagement until Hughie has ten thousand pounds of his own. Their difficulty is therefore money rather than a lack of mutual affection.

Summary, part 2: The visit to Alan Trevor

On his way to see Laura, Hughie visits his friend Alan Trevor, a successful painter. Trevor is finishing a life-size picture of a beggar. The model, meaning the person posing for the artist, stands on a raised platform in the studio.

The old man’s wrinkled face, torn brown cloak, patched boots, rough stick and battered hat suggest distress to Hughie. The hat is extended for alms, meaning gifts to people in need. Trevor, however, admires the man’s suitability as a subject for painting.

Trevor says a model receives a shilling an hour and that his picture will earn two thousand guineas. Shillings and guineas are historical British units of money. Hughie thinks the model should receive a share of the payment because posing also involves work.

Summary, part 3: The private gift

When Trevor leaves to speak to the framemaker, the old man rests on a wooden bench. Hughie finds a sovereign, a British gold coin, and some small copper coins in his pockets. Moved by pity, he slips the sovereign into the man’s hand.

Hughie knows the gift means going without hansoms, horse-drawn cabs, for a fortnight, or two weeks. The recipient smiles faintly and thanks him. Hughie later receives an affectionate scolding from Laura for his extravagance and has to walk home.

Summary, part 4: The discovery at the club

That night at the Palette Club, Trevor explains that the model asked about Hughie’s life and prospects. Still believing the man poor, Hughie offers old clothes. He then becomes angry that Trevor has discussed his private affairs, including Laura and the money required.

Trevor reveals that the model is Baron Hausberg, one of the richest men in Europe. The Baron commissioned, or formally requested, a portrait of himself dressed as a beggar. The ragged costume belongs to Trevor, who obtained it in Spain.

Hughie is horrified that he has given a wealthy man a sovereign. Trevor laughs, explains his earlier silence and reassures him that the Baron was delighted. Hughie nevertheless goes home unhappy, fearing he has made himself look foolish.

Summary, part 5: The letter and marriage

The next morning, Monsieur Gustave Naudin visits on the Baron’s behalf. Hughie expects a demand for an apology and immediately offers one. Instead, Naudin delivers a sealed letter containing a cheque for ten thousand pounds, a wedding present for Hughie and Laura.

The couple marry. Trevor is the best man, and the Baron speaks at the wedding breakfast. Trevor ends the story by contrasting a millionaire who poses as a model with a millionaire whose conduct makes him an example for others.

What do the main characters reveal through their actions?

Hughie Erskine: generosity without financial ability

Hughie is the protagonist, the central character whose experience organises the story. His limitations are openly acknowledged: he has no profession, relies on an allowance and is not intellectually distinguished. The portrait is affectionate, but it does not turn him into a hidden business genius.

His central strength is compassion, sympathetic concern for another person’s suffering. He acts on that concern even when giving costs him something. He neither knows the model’s identity nor asks for a favour in return, so the gift is not a calculated attempt at advancement.

Hughie is also sensitive to embarrassment. At the club he worries about being thought foolish, while the following morning he apologises before hearing Naudin’s message. These reactions make the reward surprising to him and show that he has not been expecting recognition.

Alan Trevor: a gifted artist and amused friend

Trevor is rough in appearance but highly accomplished in painting. His pictures are eagerly sought after. He first likes Hughie for his personal charm, then comes to value his cheerful spirits and generous, reckless nature as their friendship develops.

Trevor sees the model’s rags as visually attractive material for art. His response differs from Hughie’s concern about apparent suffering. Yet he should not be reduced to a villain: he praises Hughie’s generosity, reassures him after the misunderstanding and becomes his best man.

Trevor’s conversation also moves the action forward. He tells the Baron about Hughie’s circumstances and later tells Hughie the model’s identity. His final remark supplies the title’s fuller meaning, linking artistic posing with admirable behaviour.

Baron Hausberg: wealth put to generous use

Hausberg first appears through a convincing costume. After the disclosure, the reader understands that his torn clothes indicate the role he is playing, rather than his financial position. He is Trevor’s friend and patron, meaning someone who supports an artist by buying or commissioning work.

His response to Hughie gives him moral importance. He smiles at the gift, asks about Hughie and sends the exact amount needed to remove the marriage obstacle. Calling himself an old beggar on the envelope makes the shared misunderstanding affectionate rather than humiliating.

Laura, the Colonel and Naudin

Laura returns Hughie’s love and provides consolation when her father’s condition discourages him. Her affectionate scolding combines attachment with awareness of his limited means. It does not mean that she rejects him for helping someone he believes to be poor.

Colonel Merton is fond of Hughie but makes money a condition of considering an engagement. This distinguishes personal approval from financial approval. Naudin serves as the Baron’s messenger: his polite arrival delays Hughie’s discovery that the visit brings happiness rather than a complaint.

Why is Hughie’s gift the turning point?

A small possession becomes a real sacrifice

A turning point is an event that changes the direction of a story. Hughie’s gift performs this function because it prompts the Baron’s interest in him. The later cheque becomes possible through an action Hughie takes without understanding whom he is helping.

The sovereign matters because of Hughie’s circumstances. It is the substantial coin he finds alongside some coppers, and he immediately thinks about the cab journeys he will lose. The gift has a practical cost even though it cannot solve his own much larger financial difficulty.

The story does not make Hughie weigh the possibility of a reward. He reasons that the old man needs the money more. His immediate concern is the person in front of him, not the benefit that a connection with wealth might bring.

Kindness continues after the first encounter

At the club, Hughie still thinks about the old man’s supposed hardship and offers clothing. This continued concern strengthens the earlier action: the impulse to help is not forgotten when he leaves the studio. He is troubled by apparent misery beyond the moment of giving.

The private manner of the gift also matters. Trevor has stepped out, and Hughie slips the coin into the model’s hand. This supports an interpretation of the action as unshowy. Nothing in the scene suggests a public performance intended to impress his friend.

How the misunderstanding produces the outcome

The sequence of causes must remain clear. Hughie gives the sovereign; the Baron asks Trevor about him; Trevor explains Hughie’s circumstances; the Baron sends a wedding present. Hughie’s mistake about appearances therefore produces an opportunity for two people to demonstrate generosity.

The ending is not evidence that generosity guarantees financial reward. Within this particular story, the Baron has both the resources and the willingness to respond. Hughie’s kindness already has value before he knows that it will change his prospects.

What themes and message emerge from the story?

Theme 1: Generosity as a measure of character

A theme is a central idea explored through a story’s events and characters. Here, generosity connects Hughie and Hausberg across their different circumstances. Hughie gives what he can spare only with difficulty; Hausberg uses great wealth to remove another person’s obstacle.

Their actions differ in scale, but both respond to a human need as they understand it. Hughie believes the model needs relief from poverty. Hausberg learns that the young couple need money to satisfy Laura’s father. Each makes the other person’s circumstances matter.

The final compliment to a model millionaire suggests that admirable wealth involves how money is used. Being rich alone does not explain the praise. The Baron earns it through the wedding present and his friendly participation in the marriage celebrations.

Theme 2: Appearance and reality

Appearance and reality means the difference between what something seems to be and what it actually is. Hausberg’s ragged costume produces the clearest example. Hughie’s observation of the clothes is accurate, but his conclusion about the wearer’s poverty is mistaken.

The contrast also shapes the two friends’ portraits. Hughie is physically attractive but commercially unsuccessful. Trevor looks rough but is a master of his art. These differences encourage the reader to assess conduct and ability instead of making a complete judgement from outward appearance.

Theme 3: Love and the practical power of money

Love is genuine between Hughie and Laura, yet their attachment does not remove the Colonel’s condition. The story recognises the practical influence of money without presenting financial ability as Hughie’s chief virtue. Affection, character and economic resources do different work in the plot.

The cheque matches the sum demanded at the beginning, bringing the marriage problem to a close. The ending therefore joins an emotional outcome with a material solution. It does not show the Colonel suddenly abandoning his condition or Hughie becoming successful in trade.

Theme 4: Artistic interest and human sympathy

Artistic interest makes Trevor value the old man’s appearance as the subject of a picture. Hughie responds to what he thinks the appearance reveals about suffering. Their discussion brings two ways of seeing the same figure into direct comparison.

Hughie questions both the model’s payment and the artist’s apparent indifference. Trevor defends the painter’s work and insists on representing the world as he sees it. The disagreement raises a question about responsibility without requiring the reader to accept every generalisation either friend makes.

How do literary devices and language create humour and surprise?

Irony and the delayed disclosure

Situational irony is a contrast between an expected situation and the actual outcome. Hughie, who needs money, gives a coin to a wealthy man. He then expects an apology to be demanded, but receives a large wedding present instead.

The narrative delays the model’s identity until the club conversation. This is a revelation, a disclosure that changes how earlier events are understood. The torn clothing and faint smile remain the same details, but the reader now interprets them with different knowledge.

A first reading generally shares Hughie’s misunderstanding during the studio scene because the narrator has not yet identified Hausberg. Once Trevor explains the situation, the reader can recognise the difference between Hughie’s fear of offence and the Baron’s actual delight.

The language of business and character

A metaphor describes one thing as another to suggest a comparison. Hughie is compared to a butterfly among bulls and bears during his attempt at the Stock Exchange. A butterfly suggests delicacy or unsuitability for that competitive setting.

Bulls and bears are market terms for traders associated respectively with expectations of rising and falling prices. The animal language also makes the contrast lively: Hughie seems out of place among stronger, more forceful creatures. The passage does not describe literal animals.

A simile makes an explicit comparison, often using “like” or “as”. The model’s face is compared to wrinkled parchment, a writing material made from prepared animal skin. The comparison emphasises its lined, aged appearance and helps make Hughie’s pity understandable.

Wit, exaggeration and wordplay

An epigram is a brief, pointed saying with a witty effect. Trevor’s concluding comparison between millionaire models and model millionaires is an example. A pun, or play on multiple meanings, gives the word model both an artistic and a moral sense.

Hyperbole is deliberate exaggeration for emphasis. Trevor’s account of Hausberg’s wealth includes claims about buying London and influencing war. These belong to Trevor’s dramatic speech. They should not be treated as independently demonstrated financial or political achievements.

Trevor also predicts that the Baron will invest Hughie’s coin and pay interest, meaning money earned on a sum invested. This is teasing speculation. The actual resolution is a wedding gift, not a narrated investment scheme or a record of payments.

The humour depends on reversal, a change to an opposite or unexpected situation. A supposed beggar becomes a benefactor, meaning a person who provides help. An embarrassed donor becomes the grateful recipient of a gift, while the apparently foolish action gains moral distinction.

How do the title and ending bring the story together?

The two meanings of model

The title The Model Millionaire has a double meaning. In the studio, Hausberg is literally a millionaire working as an artist’s model. By the end, he is also a model in the sense of an admirable example, because he uses his resources generously.

Trevor’s final remark reverses the order of the words. A millionaire model is a rich person posing for an artist; a model millionaire is a rich person whose conduct deserves admiration. The shift makes the reader move from the painting to the character of its subject.

The title’s moral sense does not make Hughie unimportant. It is his first gift that allows the Baron’s response to emerge. The two men’s actions are connected, although the title’s literal meaning applies specifically to Hausberg’s role in Trevor’s studio.

The envelope and the exact amount

The envelope identifies the cheque as a wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton from an old beggar. Hughie is the familiar name used through the narrative; Hugh appears in this inscription. The playful signature recalls the studio misunderstanding without rebuking him.

The amount is ten thousand pounds, exactly the sum the Colonel required Hughie to possess. This gives the ending a precise connection to the opening problem. The cheque is neither payment for a portrait nor a loan described as requiring repayment.

From fear of ridicule to shared celebration

Hughie fears that the Baron will think him foolish. Instead, the Baron’s presence at the wedding breakfast confirms a friendly outcome. Trevor, whose laughter had embarrassed Hughie at the club, now participates as best man and praises the quality of the Baron’s generosity.

The subtitle’s admiration can be read alongside this conclusion. The story laughs at misunderstanding and impracticality, but ends by honouring a generous response. Its final judgement asks the reader to see kindness as part of a person’s worth.

Which key quotations explain the characters and themes?

Hughie’s limitations and the money condition

“a delightful, ineffectual young man with a perfect profile and no profession”

Speaker and context: The narrator sums up Hughie after his unsuccessful attempts to make money. Ineffectual means unable to achieve practical results; profile means the side view of a face. The affectionate description holds his attractive personality together with his lack of an established occupation.

“when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own”

Speaker and context: Colonel Merton sets his condition for considering Hughie’s engagement to Laura. The emphasis on money of Hughie’s own explains why the aunt’s annual allowance and Laura’s affection do not settle the difficulty.

Different ways of seeing the model

“he wants it more than I do”

Speaker and context: Hughie thinks this before giving the sovereign. His judgement about the recipient’s wealth is mistaken, but the thought establishes the compassionate motive. He expects inconvenience to himself and chooses to help anyway.

“What seems poverty to you is picturesqueness to me.”

Speaker and context: Trevor answers Hughie’s concern about the model’s clothing at the club. Picturesqueness means visual qualities that make something attractive as a subject for art. The statement expresses Trevor’s artistic viewpoint, not an objective judgement that poverty is desirable.

The wedding present and the final judgement

“A wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar”

Speaker and context: This is the inscription on the Baron’s envelope, rather than spoken dialogue. It makes clear that the money is a gift for the couple, while humorously preserving the identity Hughie had assigned to its sender.

“model millionaires are rarer still!”

Speaker and context: Trevor ends the story with this judgement after mentioning millionaire models. The word model now praises exemplary conduct. The short closing phrase turns the amusing incident into a compliment to Hausberg’s generosity.

How can an answer explain evidence without confusing fact and interpretation?

Separate an event from what it suggests

Evidence is a specific detail supporting a claim; interpretation explains its possible significance. Hughie’s decision to give the sovereign is an event. The conclusion that it shows selfless kindness is an interpretation supported by his ignorance of the model’s wealth and his expected loss of cab journeys.

A useful answer links the detail to the judgement instead of offering an unsupported label. For example, describing Hughie as compassionate becomes convincing when the explanation includes both his act of giving and the personal inconvenience he accepts.

Keep speakers and stages distinct

Attribution means identifying who says or thinks something. Trevor’s description of the Baron’s power, Hughie’s fear of being mocked and the narrator’s report of the cheque do not have the same status. Distinguishing them protects the explanation from turning a joke or fear into an event.

Sequence also matters. Hughie gives before discovering the Baron’s identity. Trevor learns about the sovereign only when Hughie admits giving it at the club. The Baron’s interest in Hughie follows the gift, and Naudin’s visit follows the club conversation.

Develop a judgement through a precise contrast

A comparison identifies a meaningful similarity or difference. Comparing Hughie and Trevor works best through their responses to the same model: one worries about hardship, while the other values the figure’s appearance for a painting. Their differing priorities explain their disagreement.

A balanced answer can recognise Hughie’s financial weakness alongside his generosity, or Trevor’s artistic detachment alongside his friendship. Such distinctions preserve the characters’ complexity. They also prevent the ending from becoming a claim that every rich person is kind or every artist lacks sympathy.

Glossary

• Prosaic — Ordinary and practical rather than imaginative or romantic, describing the attitude recommended to poor people in the opening.
• Ineffectual — Unable to achieve useful practical results, especially Hughie’s inability to establish himself in a profession.
• Bequeathed — Left something to another person after death, as Hughie’s father leaves him a sword and books.
• Buoyant — Cheerful and lively in spirit, describing a quality that helps make Hughie attractive as a friend.
• Wizened — Shrunken and wrinkled in appearance, used to describe the old man posing in Trevor’s studio.
• Piteous — Arousing pity or compassion, especially through an expression that seems to reveal suffering or distress.
• Alms — Money or other assistance given to people in need, suggested by the model’s outstretched battered hat.
• Sovereign — A British gold coin, the substantial coin Hughie finds in his pocket and gives to the model.
• Hansom — A horse-drawn cab, the transport Hughie expects to forgo for a fortnight after giving his coin.
• Picturesqueness — Visual qualities that make a subject attractive or interesting for art, as Trevor finds in the ragged costume.
• Philanthropic — Showing concern for other people’s welfare through generosity or help, as Trevor describes Hughie’s charitable spirit.
• Commission — A formal request for particular work, such as Hausberg’s instruction that Trevor paint him as a beggar.

Common errors and misconceptions

• Misconception: Hughie helps the model because he recognises a millionaire. Correct: He believes the man is poor and learns his identity later at the club.
• Misconception: The Colonel dislikes Hughie and Laura does not love him. Correct: The Colonel is fond of Hughie, Laura adores him, and money prevents an engagement.
• Misconception: Hughie inherits a large income from his father. Correct: His father leaves a sword and books; an old aunt provides his annual allowance.
• Misconception: Hausberg arranges the disguise to test Hughie. Correct: He commissions a beggar portrait; no plan to test Hughie is stated.
• Misconception: Trevor expects two thousand pounds for the picture. Correct: He specifically corrects Hughie: the payment is two thousand guineas, while a model gets a shilling an hour.
• Misconception: The Baron invests the sovereign and sends its profits. Correct: Investment is Trevor’s joking prediction; the ten thousand pounds is explicitly a wedding present.
• Misconception: Model means an artist’s sitter throughout the ending. Correct: The final remark also uses model to mean an admirable example, praising Hausberg’s conduct.

Exam-style questions with model answers

Q1. Hughie believes the old model is poor. He gives him a sovereign despite knowing that he must go without cab journeys for a fortnight. Identify two qualities shown by this action. [2 marks]

1. Hughie shows compassion because he responds to the suffering he believes the old man is experiencing.
2. He shows selflessness because he accepts a personal inconvenience in order to help someone else.

Q2. Hughie and Laura love each other. Colonel Merton is fond of Hughie, but refuses to consider an engagement until Hughie has ten thousand pounds of his own. Explain the obstacle to their marriage in three points. [3 marks]

1. The obstacle is not a lack of mutual affection, because Hughie and Laura already love each other and wish to be together.
2. The Colonel’s refusal does not arise from personal dislike, since he is fond of Hughie despite withholding approval of an engagement.
3. The decisive barrier is financial: the Colonel requires Hughie to possess ten thousand pounds of his own before considering the engagement.

Q3. In Trevor’s studio, an old model has a wrinkled face, a torn brown cloak, patched boots and an outstretched battered hat. Hughie pities him; Trevor admires his suitability for a painting. Explain four ways these details contribute to the scene. [4 marks]

1. The wrinkled face gives the figure an aged appearance, helping to make Hughie’s sympathetic response understandable.
2. The torn cloak and patched boots suggest poverty to Hughie, shaping his judgement of the man’s circumstances.
3. The extended hat suggests a request for charity, reinforcing the role of a beggar that the model presents.
4. The friends’ contrasting reactions separate human sympathy from artistic interest: Hughie sees apparent need, while Trevor sees a suitable subject.

Q4. Trevor says that a model receives a shilling an hour, whereas he will receive two thousand guineas for his painting. Hughie proposes a share for the model because posing is hard work. Trevor defends the labour of painting and standing at the easel, a stand supporting the picture. Explain their disagreement in three points without converting the currencies. [3 marks]

1. Hughie focuses on the model’s contribution and thinks that the effort of posing deserves a share in the payment for the picture.
2. Trevor defends the painter’s payment by pointing to the trouble involved in applying the paint.
3. Trevor also stresses the physical effort of standing all day at the easel, whereas Hughie argues that models work just as hard as painters.

Q5. Hughie gives a sovereign to a model he thinks poor, accepting the loss of cab journeys. The model is actually Baron Hausberg, who commissioned a beggar portrait. After learning that Hughie needs ten thousand pounds to marry Laura, Hausberg sends that sum as a wedding gift. Explain generosity and the ironic reversal in five points. [5 marks]

1. Hughie acts from compassion because he believes that the model needs assistance, and he does not know that the recipient is wealthy.
2. The loss of cab journeys gives the act a personal cost, showing that his generosity involves a sacrifice rather than effortless giving.
3. The discovery that the supposed beggar is a Baron creates an ironic reversal: the man receiving charity has greater resources than his donor.
4. Hausberg responds generously after learning about Hughie’s difficulty, using his wealth to supply the exact amount needed for the proposed marriage.
5. The giver becomes the recipient, but the later reward does not make Hughie’s original act calculating, because he gives before discovering the truth.

Q6. Trevor describes Hausberg posing as a beggar for a portrait. Hausberg later sends Hughie and Laura ten thousand pounds as a wedding present and speaks at their wedding breakfast. Trevor ends by distinguishing millionaire models from model millionaires. Explain the title in four points. [4 marks]

1. The literal meaning describes Hausberg as a millionaire who becomes an artist’s model by posing in the role of a beggar.
2. The second meaning uses model to describe an admirable example, shifting attention from Hausberg’s pose to his conduct.
3. The wedding gift supports this moral meaning because Hausberg uses his money generously to help Hughie and Laura.
4. Trevor’s reversal of the two words brings these meanings together and ends the story by praising the Baron’s behaviour.

Q7. After Hughie discovers the model’s wealth, Trevor jokes that Hausberg will invest the sovereign and pay interest every six months. Hughie fears he has caused offence. The next morning, Naudin delivers a letter containing a ten-thousand-pound wedding present from Hausberg. Distinguish prediction, fear and event in three points. [3 marks]

1. The proposed investment and interest payments are Trevor’s joking prediction; the information given does not establish that either of these actions takes place.
2. The possibility of offence is Hughie’s anxious interpretation of his mistake, rather than evidence that the Baron actually resents his kindness.
3. The demonstrated event is Naudin’s delivery of a wedding present, so the ending establishes generosity rather than the fulfilment of the investment prediction or Hughie’s fear.

Q8. Hughie has no successful profession and lives on an aunt’s allowance. He gives a sovereign to a model he believes poor, knowing it costs him cab journeys, and later offers the man clothes. When told the model is wealthy, he fears looking foolish. Write a balanced assessment of Hughie in five points. [5 marks]

1. Hughie lacks practical financial success: his failure to establish a profession and his reliance on an aunt’s allowance prevent a judgement of complete independence.
2. He is compassionate because the model’s apparent poverty makes him want to help, even though he does not know the man’s actual circumstances.
3. His kindness is self-sacrificing, since he gives the sovereign with an awareness that he will have to manage without cab journeys afterwards.
4. His later offer of clothing shows continued concern, supporting the view that his wish to help extends beyond the first emotional encounter.
5. His fear of appearing foolish reveals sensitivity to social embarrassment, so his generous conduct coexists with insecurity and an imperfect understanding of the situation.

Key takeaways

• Hughie’s financial ineffectiveness contrasts with his kindness; the story asks readers to assess both his limitations and his moral worth.
• The Colonel’s demand for ten thousand pounds creates the marriage obstacle, despite mutual love and his personal fondness for Hughie.
• Hughie gives the sovereign before discovering Hausberg’s identity, so his generosity cannot be explained as an attempt to obtain a reward.
• Trevor’s admiration of the model’s appearance contrasts with Hughie’s concern about the suffering he thinks the ragged clothes reveal.
• Hausberg’s wedding present matches the required sum and transforms Hughie’s embarrassment into an unexpected opportunity to marry Laura.
• The title joins two meanings of model: a person posing for an artist and a person whose behaviour deserves admiration.
• Trevor’s investment prediction is a joke, while the delivered cheque is a wedding gift and the actual financial event of the ending.
• The story’s generosity, mistaken appearances and reversals should be explained through precise events, with jokes and interpretations clearly attributed.

Test yourself

What does Hughie receive from his father, and who provides his regular allowance?

His father leaves a cavalry sword and a fifteen-volume history of the Peninsular War. An old aunt gives him two hundred pounds a year.

Why does Trevor leave Hughie alone with the model?

A servant announces that the framemaker wants to speak to Trevor, so the painter temporarily leaves the studio.

What personal cost does Hughie associate with giving the sovereign?

He expects to go without hansom cab journeys for a fortnight, and later has to walk home.

Who owns the model’s ragged costume, and where did he obtain it?

The ragged clothes belong to Alan Trevor, who obtained the old suit in Spain.

Does the story establish that Hausberg dressed as a beggar to test Hughie?

No. Hausberg commissioned Trevor to paint him as a beggar. A plan to test Hughie is not stated.

What does Hughie expect when Naudin arrives, and what does Naudin actually deliver?

Hughie expects a demand for an apology. Naudin instead brings the Baron’s letter containing a ten-thousand-pound wedding present.

How do Trevor and Hausberg participate in the wedding?

Trevor serves as best man, and Hausberg makes a speech at the wedding breakfast.

What are the two meanings of model in the title?

Model means a person posing for an artist and an admirable example. Hausberg fulfils the first through the portrait and the second through generosity.