I read the title short story from The Model Millionaire Stories by Oscar Wilde this weekend.  
It starts out like this,

“Unless one is wealth there is no use in being a charming fellow.  Romance is the privilege of the rich, not the profession of the unemployed.  The poor should be practical and prosaic.  It is better to have a permanent income than to be fascinating.  These are the great truths of modern life which Hugh Erskine never realized.”

Hugh’s aunt gave him $200 per year to live on.  He was in love with Laura Merton, but her father would not allow them to marry because Hugh was poor.  He told Hugh to go out into the world and make $10,000 and then he would allow the two to marry.
One day Hugh decided to go visit his friend Alan Trevor, an artist.  Alan was in the middle of painting a portrait of an old street person.  His model wore clothes with layers or dirt and tatters and Hugh felt sorry for him.  He asked Alan how much he paid his models versus how much he could get for a finished portrait.  Hugh felt the a model should make a percentage of what the artist makes, and the two friend debated this.  
Later Alan went out of the room and Hugh felt around in his pocket to see what money he had in it.

“Poor old man fellow,” he thought to himself, “he wants it more than I do, but it means no *hansoms for a fortnight.”  (*I looked it up, hansom is a cab that was designed and patented in 1834.)

Hugh gave the man a sovereign. 
Can you guess what happened later in the story.  I did, but enjoyed the story nun-the-less.  I just love Wilde’s social commentary, wit, and writing.  This is another recommended Oscar Wilde story.

If you would like to participate in Short Story Mondays, go to John of The Book Mine Set. He has a short story review every Monday and a place for you to link your short story review. Come join in the fun and add to my short story TBR!

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