There was a man, named Hughie Erskine. He had no money. He kept changing his job but always failed. Finally he stopped working and lived on money given to him by an old aunt. He loved a girl named Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel. The Colonel would only allow them to get married if Hughie had ten thousand pounds of his own.
One day, Hughie visited his friend, Alan Trevor, who was a painter. When Hughie came, Alan was painting a model. The model was a beggar-man. Hughie felt sorry for the model, so he gave him a sovereign. Later that night, Hughie met Alan at Palette Club. They had a talk. Hughie found out from Alan that the model was actually not a beggar-man, but a millionaire, named Baron Hausberg. Hughie went home unhappily, whereas Alan laughed loudly.
The next morning, a messenger from Baron Hausberg came and brought him a letter. The letter contained a cheque for ten thousand pounds which was a wedding present to Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton from Baron Hausberg. On the day of the marriage, Alan Trevor was the best man and the Baron made a speech at the wedding breakfast. Alan said, “Millionaire models are rare enough, but model millionaires are rarer still!”