“But he looks splendid in them．”said Trevor．“1 wouldn’t paint him in a frock——coat for anything．What you call rags I call romance．What seems poverty to you is charm to me．However，I’11 tell him of your offer．”
“Alan，”said Hughie seriously，“you painters are a heartless lot．”
“An artist’S heart is his head。”replied Trevor；“and besides，our business is to realize the world as we see it，not to reform it as we know it．And now tell，me how Laura is．The old model was quite interested in her．”
“You don’t mean to say you talked to him about her？”said Hugh—ie．
“Certainly I did．He knows all about the relentless colonel，the love—ly Laura，and the 10，000．”
“You told that old beggar all my private affairs？”cried Hughie，loo—king very red and angry．
“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 tomor—row without overdrawing his account．He has a house in every capital，dines off gold plate，and can prevent Russia going to war when he choo—ses．”
“What on earth do you mean？”exclaimed Hughie．
“What I say．”said Trevor．“The old man you saw today in the stu—dio was Baron Hausberg．He is a great friend of mine．buys a11 my pic—tures and that sort of thing，and gave me a commission a month ago to paint him as a beggar．Que voulez—VOUS？La fantaisie d’un million—naire！And I must say he made a magnificent figure in his rags．or per—haps I should say in my rags；they are an old suit I got in Spain．”
“Baron Hausberg！”cried Hughie．“Good heavens！I gave him a sovereign！”and he sank into an armchair the picture of dismav．
“Gave him a sovereign！”shouted Trevor，and he burst into a roar of laughter．“My dear boy，you’11 never see it again．”
“I think you might have told me，Alan，”said Hughie sulkily．“and not have let me make such a fool of myself．”
“Well，to begin with，Hughie，”said Trevor，“it never entered mv mind that you went about distributing alms in that reckless way．I can un-derstand your kissing a pretty model，but your giving a sovereign to an ugly one—by Jove，no！Besides，the fact is that I really was not at hometoday to any one；and when you came in I didn’t know whether Haus—berg would like his name mentioned．You know he wasn’t in full dress．”
“What a duffer he must think me！”said Hughie．
“Not at a11．He was in the highest spirits aher you left；kept chuck—ling to himself and rubbing his old wrinkled hands together．I couldn，tmake out why he was SO interested to know all about you；but I see it allnow．He’11 invest your sovereign for you，Hughie，pay you the interestevery six months，and have a capital story to tell after dinner．”
“I am an unlucky devil．”growled Hughie．“The best thing I can dois to go to bed；and，my dear Alan，you mustn’t tell anyone．I shouldn’tdare show my face in the Row．”
“Nonsense！It reflects the highest credit on your philanthropic spir—it，Hughie．And don’t run away．Have another cigarette，and you can talk about Laura as much as you like．”
However，Hughie wouldn’t stop，but walked home，feeling very un—happy，and leaving Alan Trevor in fits of laughter．
The next morning，as he was at breakfast，the servant brought him up a card on which was written，“Monsieur Gustave Naudin，de la part de M．1e Baron Hausberg．”
“I suppose he has come for an apology．”said Hughie tO himself；and he told the servant to show the visitor up．
An old gentleman with gold spectacles and grey hair came into the room，and said，in a slight French accent，“Have I the honour of address—ing Monsieur Erskine？”
Hughie bowed．
“I have come from Baron Hausberg．”he continued．“The Baron…”
“I beg，sir，that you will offer him my sincerest apologies，”stam—mered Hughie．
“The Baron，”said the old gentleman，with a smile，“has commis—sioned me to bring you this letter，”and he extended a sealed envelope．
the。utside was written，“A wedding present t0 Hugh Erskine and Laura Merton，from an old beggar，”and inside was a cheque for 10，000．
When they were married Alan Trevor was the bestman，and the Bar．on made a speech at the wedding—breakfast．
“Millionaire models，”remarked Alan，“are rare enough；but，by Jove，model millionaires are rarer still！”
volume n．体积，册，大小
ultimately adv．最后地；终极地
freckled aaj．有雀斑的
piteous aaj．哀怨的，可怜的
manual n．手册；指南
adj．手的；手工的；手动的
sovereign n．皇帝，君主，一磅硬币
aaj．至高无上的，独立自主的，君主的
extravagance n．奢侈；过度；铺张
miserable aaj．悲惨的，不幸的，穷困的
charm n．魅力；妩媚
overdraw V．拉过度；夸张；夸大；透支；夸张
