The Model Millionaire

Hughie Erskine is the story’s protagonist, a young man in 1880s London society. His soft-hearted, romantic personality stands in contrast to the hardheaded social realities of his day, where romance is a privilege of the rich. Charming, attractive, and broadly popular, Hughie is a simple soul whose gentle nature has made him useless at all the jobs he’s tried. His resulting poverty stands in the way of his one desire: to marry his love, Laura Merton. Laura’s Father, the Colonel, is as fond of Hughie as everyone else, but he insists that Hughie have his own fortune before marrying Laura. Hughie’s character exposes a paradox in London society: his simplicity and generous personality, for which he is so widely admired, impede his ability to succeed economically in a cutthroat society, thus barring him from enjoying all its privileges—like romance. His painter friend Alan Trevor, by contrast, adopts a cynical stance in his art and is paid handsomely for it. Yet, Hughie’s generosity ultimately saves him: a beggar modelling for Alan, to whom Hughie gives one of his precious last coins, turns out to be the millionaire Baron Hausberg in disguise. The Baron is touched by Hughie’s generosity and gives him all the money he needs to marry Laura. Hughie’s fate thus disproves his society’s dismissal of lofty emotion as useless for the non-wealthy: Hughie’s outsized generosity is precisely what wins him fantastic wealth.