The yellow book: an illustrated quarterly (6.1895)

A New Poster

By Evelyn Sharp

I
IT was the first of Mrs. Angelo Milton’s original dinner-parties.
Mrs. Angelo Milton had the reputation of being the most
original hostess, if not in London, certainly in South Kensington
where she lived. Such a reputation, in such a neighbourhood, was
not perhaps difficult of acquisition, and Mrs. Milton had managed
to acquire it by the simple though unusual method of being mildly
eccentric within the limits of conventionality. She was thus
characteristic neither of Bohemia nor of South Kensington ; she
amused the one, puzzled the other, and received them both on the
third Wednesday in the month. She was daring in her selection
of guests, clever in the way she made them entertain one another,
and commonplace in her own conversation. The object of her
life was to be distinguished, and in a great measure she succeeded
in it; the only thing that was wanting was Mrs. Angelo Milton
herself. Her house, her receptions, her friends all bore the mark
of distinction ; as a drama, the scenic effect was superb and the
company far above the average, but the principal player remained
mediocre. She had none of the elements of individuality ; her
dress was perfect and of the fashionable type, her features were
The Yellow Book—Vol. VI. h intrinsically