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The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde: ICSE Class 9 Guide

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English LiteratureICSE Class 9 · Chapter 5

The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde: ICSE Class 9 Summary and Questions

Updated 15 October 2026 · Fact-checked

In Oscar Wilde's The Model Millionaire, kind but penniless Hughie Erskine cannot marry Laura until he has ten thousand pounds. In a painter's studio he gives his last sovereign to a ragged beggar-model, who turns out to be the millionaire Baron Hausberg. The Baron rewards him with a wedding present of ten thousand pounds.

What The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde is about

The Model Millionaire (subtitled 'A Note of Admiration') is by Oscar Wilde and appeared in his collection *Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories* (1891). It is one of the five short stories prescribed from Treasure Chest for ICSE Class IX in CISCE's 2028 syllabus.

The story is short, witty and built on irony: the beggar is a millionaire, the 'reckless' gift of a sovereign brings a fortune, and the title itself is a pun. Wilde's narrator makes ironic comments about money, romance and art from the very first line ('Unless one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow'), and the plot proves those cynical 'great truths' wrong.

Your Class IX examination is set by your school, usually with MCQs and extract questions (context, meaning, character, and a personal-response part). All quotations here are checked against the public-domain text on Project Gutenberg; the Treasure Chest version may differ slightly in punctuation.

Weightage: CISCE publishes no Class IX paper layout; the Class IX examination is set by schools on Acts I-II of Julius Caesar and five stories and five poems from Treasure Chest. In the board pattern, prose supplies one-mark MCQs and 16-mark extract questions.Source: CISCE ICSE 2028 English syllabus (Paper 2, Class IX portion); CISCE ICSE 2027 Specimen Question Paper, Literature in English

The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde: summary

In our own words, in the order of the text. Read the NCERT text itself too: the board quotes from it.

Hughie Erskine is handsome, popular and good-natured, but he has no talent for making money. His father left him only a cavalry sword and a history of the Peninsular War in fifteen volumes, and he lives on two hundred pounds a year from an old aunt. He has tried the Stock Exchange, the tea trade and selling dry sherry, and failed at all of them. He loves Laura Merton, daughter of a retired Colonel, and she loves him, but the Colonel will not allow an engagement until Hughie has ten thousand pounds of his own.

One morning, on his way to see Laura in Holland Park, Hughie visits his friend Alan Trevor, a gifted painter. Trevor is finishing a life-size painting of a beggar, and the model, a wizened old man in a torn brown cloak and patched boots, stands holding out his hat. Hughie learns that the model earns a shilling an hour while Trevor will get two thousand guineas for the picture. When Trevor steps out, Hughie, full of pity, gives the beggar the only gold coin he has, a sovereign, though it means he must walk instead of taking cabs for a fortnight. The old man smiles and thanks him.

That night at the Palette Club, Trevor tells Hughie that the old model was very interested in him and that Trevor told him everything: Hughie's income, Laura, the Colonel and the ten thousand pounds. Hughie is angry until Trevor reveals that the 'beggar' is Baron Hausberg, one of the richest men in Europe, who had asked to be painted as a beggar. Hughie is mortified and goes home miserable while Trevor laughs.

The next morning an old gentleman, Monsieur Gustave Naudin, arrives on the Baron's behalf. Expecting a demand for an apology, Hughie apologises, but instead receives a sealed envelope marked 'A wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar'. Inside is a cheque for ten thousand pounds. At the wedding Trevor is best man and the Baron makes a speech. Trevor remarks that millionaire models are rare, but model millionaires are rarer still.

Themes and message

Kindness rewarded

Hughie's generosity is spontaneous and costs him real comfort. He gives without any hope of return, and the reward comes from the one person who can change his life. The story suggests that goodness of heart matters more than cleverness or wealth.

From the text: 'Poor old fellow ... he wants it more than I do, but it means no hansoms for a fortnight'.

Appearance and reality

Almost nothing is as it seems: the beggar is a Baron, the rags are Trevor's old suit from Spain, the rough painter is a real artist, and the 'ineffectual' young man is the hero. Hughie judges by appearance and is fooled; the reader is fooled too.

From the text: 'That old beggar, as you call him, is one of the richest men in Europe.'

Money and love

The narrator's opening 'truths' claim that romance is only for the rich. The Colonel's demand for ten thousand pounds makes money the barrier to love. The ending reverses the cynicism: love wins, but only through a rich man's generosity, which keeps the irony alive.

From the text: 'Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed.'

Art and social conscience

Trevor sees the beggar's misery as 'romance' and 'picturesqueness'; Hughie sees a suffering man. Trevor's view that an artist should realise the world, not reform it, contrasts with Hughie's instinct to help.

From the text: 'What you call rags I call romance'; 'An artist's heart is his head'.

Characters

Hughie Erskine

The penniless, good-hearted hero.

  • Handsome and charming, popular with everyone.
  • Unbusinesslike: fails on the Stock Exchange, in tea and in sherry.
  • Generous and compassionate: gives his only sovereign.
  • Sensitive and easily embarrassed: blushes, then feels a 'duffer'.

The opening description; the studio; the Palette Club.

Alan Trevor

Painter and Hughie's friend.

  • Rough in appearance (freckled face, red ragged beard) but a true master artist.
  • Witty and detached: sees art, not suffering.
  • Loyal friend, though he enjoys a good joke at Hughie's expense.

His remarks on models, rags and the artist's heart.

Baron Hausberg

The millionaire who poses as a beggar.

  • Eccentric: asks to be painted as a beggar.
  • Good-humoured: chuckles after Hughie leaves.
  • Generous: turns a sovereign into ten thousand pounds.

Trevor's account and the wedding present.

Colonel Merton and Laura

Laura's practical father and Hughie's beloved.

  • The Colonel is fond of Hughie but demands financial security.
  • Laura adores Hughie and scolds him for his 'extravagance'.

'Come to me, my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own'.

How it is written

DeviceExampleEffect
IronyA beggar-model is the richest man in Europe; a sovereign brings ten thousand pounds.Creates the surprise ending and mocks judging by appearances.
Pun (chiasmus) in the title'Millionaire models ... are rare enough; but ... model millionaires are rarer still!''Model' means both a person who poses and an ideal example; the story ends on its central joke.
Epigram'Unless one is wealthy there is no use in being a charming fellow.'Wilde's witty, cynical generalisations, which the plot then overturns.
Humorous understatement'the sherry was a little too dry'; the Colonel 'lost his temper and his digestion in India'.Light comic tone that makes Hughie's failures amusing rather than sad.

Key quotations

Short lines worth knowing by heart: who says them, when, and why they matter.

  • Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed.

    Narrator: Opening paragraph.

    An ironic 'truth' that the ending overturns.

  • Come to me, my boy, when you have got ten thousand pounds of your own, and we will see about it

    Colonel Merton: His condition for Hughie's engagement.

    Sets the problem the Baron solves.

  • he wants it more than I do, but it means no hansoms for a fortnight

    Hughie (thinking): Before giving the sovereign.

    Shows that his gift is a real sacrifice.

  • What you call rags I call romance. What seems poverty to you is picturesqueness to me.

    Trevor: At the Palette Club.

    The artist's detached view of suffering.

  • An artist's heart is his head

    Trevor: Replying to 'you painters are a heartless lot'.

    Art as observation, not reform.

  • model millionaires are rarer still!

    Trevor: The last line: 'Millionaire models,' remarked Alan, 'are rare enough; but ...'

    The title's pun: the Baron is an ideal rich man.

The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde in real life

Each concept, met in an everyday situation. Read the situation, answer the question in your own words, then compare with the model answer. The one-line hook is what to remember.

Judging by appearances

Suppose a simply dressed visitor at a school function is ignored by pupils, who later learn she is the chief guest and a famous scientist.

What lesson from the story applies?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Appearance hid her identity.
  2. Respect should not depend on clothes.

Answer: Like Hughie and the Baron, we cannot know people from what they wear; treating everyone with equal kindness is both right and wise.

Memory hook: Rags can hide riches.

Kindness without expectation

Imagine you give your bus fare to someone who has lost their wallet, and walk home.

How is this like Hughie's act?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. A real sacrifice of comfort.
  2. No expectation of return.

Answer: Hughie gives up a fortnight of cab rides for a stranger; true generosity costs the giver something. The story rewards it, but its value lies in the act itself.

Memory hook: Give what it costs you.

Using wealth well

Suppose a business owner quietly pays the fees of a hardworking student she hears about.

Why might Trevor call her a 'model millionaire'?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. 'Model' = ideal example.
  2. She uses wealth to reward goodness.

Answer: The Baron is a 'model' millionaire because he uses his money generously; the phrase still describes such people today.

Memory hook: A model millionaire models goodness.

Topics in this chapter

How the school exam asks The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde

The question patterns to expect, and the method that works for each.

Question typeHow it is askedMethod
MCQ (1 mark)Facts (the sum demanded, the coin given, the model's fee), the meaning of a quoted phrase, or the irony of the ending.Recall the exact detail; watch for close options (pounds/guineas, shilling/sovereign).
Extract question (16 marks)An extract from the studio, the club or the wedding present, with parts on context, character, before/after events and a personal response.Answer every question inside each part; use specific details.
Theme and title'Explain the significance of the title.' / 'How does the story show that appearances are deceptive?'Explain both meanings of 'model'; give two or three examples of irony.
Character comparisonCompare Hughie and Trevor; describe the Baron.Point-by-point with evidence from the text.

Tricks to remember The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde

Short memory aids. Say each one aloud once, then use it on a question the same day.

  • Money ladder

    Shilling (model's hour) → sovereign (Hughie's gift) → 2,000 guineas (painting) → £10,000 (wedding present).

    Use it when: Avoids mixing up the sums in MCQs.

  • Two models

    Model = poser; model = perfect example.

    Use it when: Title questions.

  • Three places

    Studio (gift) → Club (truth) → Breakfast (cheque).

    Use it when: Story sequence.

The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde: extract-based questions

Read the extract, answer every part on paper, then open the answers.

Extract 1: In the studio

'How much does a model get for sitting?' asked Hughie, as he found himself a comfortable seat on a divan.
'A shilling an hour.'
'And how much do you get for your picture, Alan?'
'Oh, for this I get two thousand!'
'Pounds?'
'Guineas. Painters, poets, and physicians always get guineas.'

  1. (1) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (i) Where is Hughie, and why has he come here? Who is the model being discussed?

  2. (2) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (ii) Describe the model's appearance.

  3. (3) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (iii) What does Hughie say the model should get, and how does Trevor respond?

  4. (4) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (iv) What does Hughie do while Trevor is out of the room, and what does it cost him?

  5. (5) · 4 marks · Long answer

    (v) What does this conversation reveal about Hughie's and Trevor's attitudes to the poor? Whose attitude do you prefer, and why?

Show the answersAnswers
  1. He is in the studio of his friend Alan Trevor, the painter, having dropped in on his way to see Laura at Holland Park. The model is an old man posing as a beggar for a life-size painting; he is, as Hughie later learns, Baron Hausberg.
  2. A wizened old man with a face like wrinkled parchment and a pitiful expression; a coarse brown cloak in tatters; patched, cobbled boots; leaning on a rough stick and holding out a battered hat for alms.
  3. Hughie says the model should have a percentage, since models work as hard as painters. Trevor calls it nonsense, pointing to the trouble of laying on paint and standing all day at the easel, and jokes that Art sometimes almost attains the dignity of manual labour.
  4. He gives the old man the only gold coin he has, a sovereign. It means he cannot take hansom cabs for a fortnight; he has to walk home after visiting Laura, who scolds him for his extravagance.
  5. Hughie feels for the model's hard work and poverty and thinks he deserves a fair share; Trevor values the model only as artistic material and treats the question lightly. A reasoned preference, e.g. Hughie's, because it is humane and leads to a real act of kindness, while Trevor's detachment ignores suffering (or a defence of Trevor's view that art records the world and need not reform it).

Extract 2: The revelation

'My dear boy,' said Trevor, smiling, 'that old beggar, as you call him, is one of the richest men in Europe. He could buy all London to-morrow without overdrawing his account. He has a house in every capital, dines off gold plate, and can prevent Russia going to war when he chooses.'

  1. (1) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (i) Where are Trevor and Hughie, and what has made Hughie angry just before this?

  2. (2) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (ii) Who is the 'old beggar'? Why was he dressed in rags?

  3. (3) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (iii) How does Hughie react to the news? Why?

  4. (4) · 3 marks · Short answer

    (iv) Why had Trevor not told Hughie the truth in the studio?

  5. (5) · 4 marks · Long answer

    (v) How does the Baron respond to Hughie's gift, and why is the title apt?

Show the answersAnswers
  1. At the Palette Club, late at night. Trevor has said he told the old model all about Hughie's income, prospects, Laura, the 'relentless colonel' and the £10,000, and Hughie is angry that his private affairs were told to a beggar.
  2. Baron Hausberg, a great friend of Trevor who buys all his pictures. He had commissioned Trevor a month earlier to paint him as a beggar, a millionaire's whim; the rags were an old suit Trevor had got in Spain.
  3. He sinks into an armchair in dismay: 'I gave him a sovereign!' He feels foolish and embarrassed, fears the Baron thinks him a 'duffer', and does not want anyone to know.
  4. It never occurred to him that Hughie would give alms so recklessly; he was not 'at home' to anyone that day; and he did not know whether Hausberg would like his name mentioned, since he 'wasn't in full dress'.
  5. Next morning his agent, Monsieur Gustave Naudin, brings Hughie a sealed envelope marked 'A wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar', containing a cheque for £10,000, the sum the Colonel demanded. The title is apt because the Baron is both a millionaire who modelled and a 'model' (ideal) millionaire who uses his wealth kindly, as Trevor's closing pun says.

The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde: exam-level solved questions

Ordered from exam level to HOTS. Cover the solution, write your own, then compare step by step.

Example 1: MCQ: the Colonel's condition · 1 mark · MCQExam level

Colonel Merton would allow the engagement only when Hughie had:
(a) a steady job (b) ten thousand pounds of his own (c) a house in Holland Park (d) two thousand guineas

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Recall the Colonel's words.

Answer: (b) ten thousand pounds of his own.

Example 2: MCQ: the gift · 1 mark · MCQHarder exam level

What did Hughie give the beggar-model?
(a) a shilling (b) a guinea (c) a sovereign (d) his old clothes

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Shilling = model's hourly fee; guineas = painter's price; clothes = only offered later.
  2. He found 'a sovereign and some coppers'.

Answer: (c) a sovereign.

Example 3: Explaining the opening · 4 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

Explain the narrator's opening statements about wealth and romance. How does the story treat them?

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Meaning of the 'great truths'.
  2. Hughie as the opposite.
  3. Ending reverses them, with irony.

Answer: The narrator ironically claims that charm is useless without money, that only the rich can afford romance, and that the poor should be practical. Hughie, charming, romantic and poor, never realised these 'truths'. The plot seems to confirm them (the Colonel demands money) but finally overturns them: Hughie's kindness, not practicality, wins him Laura. Even so, the happy ending depends on a rich man's money, so Wilde keeps a touch of irony.

Example 4: Irony in the story · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

Give three examples of irony in The Model Millionaire.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Situational irony in the plot.
  2. Verbal irony in the title and narration.

Answer: (1) Hughie pities and helps a beggar who is one of the richest men in Europe. (2) The sovereign he 'wasted' brings him ten thousand pounds. (3) The title's pun: the millionaire is a 'model' in both senses. (Also: Hughie apologises to Naudin expecting a rebuke, but receives a fortune; the narrator's 'truths' about romance are proved false.)

Example 5: Trevor's view of art · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

'Our business is to realise the world as we see it, not to reform it as we know it.' Explain and give your opinion.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Meaning: the artist records; he is not a social reformer.
  2. Context: reply to Hughie's 'heartless'.
  3. Opinion with reason.

Answer: Trevor means that an artist's job is to show the world truthfully as he sees it, not to change it; reforming society is someone else's business. He says this when Hughie calls painters heartless for valuing a beggar's rags as 'romance'. Opinion: art that shows poverty honestly can move people to act (as the painting of a beggar might), but an artist, like anyone, can also help directly, as Hughie does; detachment should not mean indifference. (Any reasoned view.)

Example 6: Is Hughie a hero? · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

Hughie is described as 'a delightful, ineffectual young man'. Does the story make him a hero? Give reasons.

Try it first, then show the solutionSolution
  1. Weaknesses: no talent for business, not clever.
  2. Strength: compassion and generosity.
  3. Judgement.

Answer: Yes, in a moral sense. He fails at every job and says nothing brilliant, so he is 'ineffectual' in worldly terms. But he alone sees a suffering human being, gives up his comfort to help him, and later offers him clothes. The story rewards this goodness, suggesting that a kind heart is the truest form of heroism even if it is not practical.

Where the marks are

How a typical answer is marked: the value points the examiner looks for and the marks each earns.

Extract part (v), 4 marks: 'How does the Baron respond to Hughie's gift, and why is the title apt?' Indicative split (Class IX papers are marked by schools). (4 marks)

StepMarks
Naudin brings a sealed envelope next morning1
Wedding present: cheque for £10,000, the Colonel's sum1
Meaning 1: a millionaire who posed as a model1
Meaning 2: an ideal (model) millionaire; Trevor's closing pun1

Where students lose marks in The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde

The slips examiners see most often, and what to write instead.

  • Mistake: Mixing up the money

    Several sums and coins appear.

    Do this: Learn the money ladder: shilling, sovereign, guineas, £10,000.

    Usually costs: MCQ and context marks.

  • Mistake: Explaining the title only one way

    Pupils say only 'the Baron was a model'.

    Do this: Explain both meanings and Trevor's closing line.

    Usually costs: Half the marks on title questions.

  • Mistake: Treating the narrator's opening as Wilde's sincere belief

    Pupils miss the irony.

    Do this: Say that the 'great truths' are ironic and are overturned by the ending.

    Usually costs: Theme and interpretation marks.

  • Mistake: Forgetting who said what

    Pupils give Trevor's lines to Hughie.

    Do this: Trevor: rags/romance, artist's heart, model millionaires. Hughie: 'heartless lot', 'I gave him a sovereign!'

    Usually costs: Context marks.

Practice questions on The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde

Write each answer on paper first. Open the hint only if you are stuck, and the answer only when you have finished.

  1. Q1 · 1 mark · MCQExam level

    How much does the model earn for sitting?
    (a) a sovereign a day (b) a shilling an hour (c) two thousand guineas (d) a percentage of the price

    Hint

    Trevor's reply.

    Answer

    (b) a shilling an hour.

  2. Q2 · 2 marks · Short answerExam level

    What had Hughie inherited from his father, and how did he use it?

    Hint

    Two items.

    Answer

    A cavalry sword, which he hung over his looking-glass, and a History of the Peninsular War in fifteen volumes, which he put on a shelf.

  3. Q3 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

    Name the three occupations Hughie tried and say why each failed, according to the narrator's jokes.

    Hint

    Bulls and bears; pekoe; sherry.

    Answer

    The Stock Exchange (a 'butterfly' among bulls and bears); tea-merchant (he tired of pekoe and souchong); selling dry sherry (it 'did not answer': the sherry was a little too dry).

  4. Q4 · 2 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

    Who is Gustave Naudin and why does Hughie misunderstand his visit?

    Hint

    Apology.

    Answer

    An old gentleman with gold spectacles who comes on behalf of Baron Hausberg. Hughie thinks he has come to demand an apology for the insult of offering a millionaire a sovereign, so he apologises at once.

  5. Q5 · 3 marks · Short answerHarder exam level

    What does Trevor predict the Baron will do with the sovereign, and how is this ironic?

    Hint

    Interest every six months.

    Answer

    He jokes that the Baron will invest the sovereign, pay Hughie the interest every six months and have a good story for after-dinner. It is ironic because the Baron does 'invest' in Hughie on a far larger scale, giving him £10,000.

  6. Q6 · 3 marks · Short answerHOTS / competency

    Why do you think the Baron was so interested in Hughie after he left the studio?

    Hint

    Infer from 'chuckling' and his questions.

    Answer

    He was touched and amused that a young man who clearly had little money would give a 'beggar' his gold coin; he asked about Hughie's income and prospects, suggesting he already wanted to help such an unselfish person, and enjoyed the joke of the situation.

  7. Q7 · 4 marks · Long answerHOTS / competency

    Write a short assignment plan (300-400 words) on 'Appearances are deceptive in The Model Millionaire'.

    Hint

    Class IX internal assignments are 300-400 words.

    Answer

    Plan: introduction (Wilde's love of irony); the beggar who is a Baron; the rags that are Trevor's old Spanish suit; Trevor, rough-looking but a true artist; Hughie, 'ineffectual' but morally the best; Naudin's visit (expected rebuke, actual reward); conclusion on the title's double meaning.

Test your recall

Answer in your head or on paper first, then open the card. Pulling an answer out of memory makes it stick far better than re-reading.

  1. 1.Who wrote The Model Millionaire?Show answer

    Oscar Wilde.

  2. 2.What is the story's subtitle?Show answer

    'A Note of Admiration'.

  3. 3.Whom does Hughie love?Show answer

    Laura Merton, daughter of a retired Colonel.

  4. 4.What is the name of the painter?Show answer

    Alan Trevor.

  5. 5.Where does Trevor reveal the truth?Show answer

    At the Palette Club.

  6. 6.What is written on the Baron's envelope?Show answer

    'A wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton, from an old beggar'.

Quick revision checklist

The night before the exam: can you do each of these without looking?

  • Can you retell the story in five sentences?
  • Can you explain the double meaning of the title?
  • Can you list three ironies?
  • Can you compare Hughie and Trevor?
  • Can you recall all the sums of money correctly?

The Model Millionaire – Oscar Wilde: frequently asked questions

Why is the story subtitled 'A Note of Admiration'?

It suggests both admiration for Hughie's goodness and an exclamation of wonder (a 'note of admiration' is an old name for an exclamation mark), fitting the surprise ending.

Is the Baron's gift realistic?

It is a fairy-tale ending, which Wilde often used; the story is a witty fable about kindness rather than a realistic account.

What is a guinea?

An old British sum of twenty-one shillings (one pound and one shilling), traditionally used for professional fees, as Trevor says.

Is this story in the Class X syllabus too?

No. It is one of the five Class IX stories; Class X has a different set.

Based on: CISCE ICSE 2028 English (01) syllabus (Classes IX and X); CISCE ICSE 2028 Appendix I: List of Prescribed Textbooks; CISCE Regulations for ICSE Examination Year 2028; CISCE ICSE 2028 Appendix I: List of Prescribed Textbooks; Oscar Wilde, The Model Millionaire, in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories (Project Gutenberg eBook #773, public domain)