Walpurga Ehrengarde Helena von Hohenthal, Lady Paget

In London, Ouida took a suite at her old home, the Langham Hotel , where in one night she entertained Robert Browning , Oscar Wilde , Robert Lytton , and Lord Ronald Gower ...

Ouida was granted a Civil List pension of £150 per year, largely through the efforts of Alfred Austin , George Wyndham , and Lady Paget .

Ouida returned to Florence after her visit to England and reported that, in Lady Paget 's words, she had the whole of London at her feet.

She nevertheless spent the summer of that year in Venice with the Pagets . Lady Paget recalls that Ouidapaddled with gilt slippers, and cream silk flounces, in the deep sands on the shore.

Neighbours thought Ouida 's behaviour in this regard strange; but critic Jane Jordan suggests that the unorthodox gap between death and burial was most likely due to her inability to pay for a proper funeral...