Read the given passage and answer the four questions that follow:-
Unless one is wealthy, 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 Hughie Erskine never realized. Intellectually, he was not of much importance. He never said a brilliant or even ill-natured thing in his life. But he was wonderfully good-looking, as popular with men as he was with women, and had every accomplishment except making money. His father had bequeathed him a cavalry sword and a History of the Peninsular War in fifteen volumes. Hughie hung the first over his looking-glass, put the second on a shelf between Ruff's Guide and Bailey's Magazine, and lived on two hundred a year from an old aunt. He had tried everything. He had gone on the Stock Exchange for six months; but what was a butterfly to do among bulls and bears? He had been a tea-merchant for a little longer but soon tired of pekoe and souchong. Then he tried selling dry sherry. That did not answer. Ultimately, he became nothing; a delightful, ineffectual young man with a perfect profile and no profession.
To make matters worse, he was in love with Laura Merton, the daughter of a retired Colonel. Laura adored him, and he worshipped her, but neither had a penny to their name. Though the Colonel liked Hughie, he refused to approve their engagement.
Which statement best reflects Hughie's attitude toward his father's inheritance?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → He treated it as decorative and insignificant.
His father had bequeathed (left by will) a cavalry sword and a fifteen-volume history. Hughie hung the sword over his looking-glass and put the books on a shelf between a guide and a magazine. He used neither for anything; they became ornaments in his room, which shows he saw the inheritance as decorative and of little importance.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: He considered it a valuable financial resource. — Incorrect. Contradicted: he lived on two hundred a year from an old aunt, not on what his father left him.
Option 2: He used it to create a successful professional career. — Incorrect. Contradicted: he had no career at all; he ended up "with a perfect profile and no profession".
Option 4: He sold it to support his income of two hundred a year. — Incorrect. Not mentioned: the passage says nothing about selling it, and the two hundred a year came from his aunt.