Produced by Judith Wirawan, Suzanne Shell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) A CROOKED MILE BY THE SAME AUTHOR THE EXCEPTION GOOD BOY SELDOM THE TWO KISSES A CROOKED MILE BY OLIVER ONIONS AUTHOR OF "THE TWO KISSES" METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _First Published in 1914_ CONTENTS PART I CHAP. PAGE I THE WITAN 1 II THE POND-ROOM 17 III THE "NOVUM" 33 IV THE STONE WALL 51 V THREE SHIPS 76 VI POLICY 98 PART II I THE PIGEON PAIR 119 II THE 'VERT 132 III THE IMPERIALISTS 148 IV THE OUTSIDERS 171 V "HOUSE FULL" 189 VI THE SOUL STORM 210 PART III I LITMUS 239 II BY THE WAY 254 III _DE TROP_ 274 IV GREY YOUTH 285 TAILPIECE 307 A CROOKED MILE I THE WITAN Lady Tasker had missed her way in the Tube. She had been on, or rather under known ground on the Piccadilly Railway as far as Leicester Square, but after that she had not heard, or else had forgotten, that in order to get to Hampstead by the train into which she had stepped she must change at Camden Town. Or perhaps she had merely wondered what Camden Town supposed itself to be that she should put herself to the trouble of changing there. With the newspaper held at arm's length, and a little figure-8-shaped gold glass moving slightly between her puckered old eyes and the page, she was reading the "_By the Way_" column of the "Globe."--"All change," called the man at Highgate; and, still unconscious of her mistake, Lady Tasker left the train. She was the last to enter the lift. But for an unhurried raising of the little locket-shaped glass as the attendant fidgeted at the half-closed gate she might have been the first to enter the next lift.