Produced by Chuck Greif, MWS 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) MYSELF WHEN YOUNG _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ _Fiction_ THE LOOM OF YOUTH PLEASURE THE LONELY UNICORN _Studies_ THE PRISONERS OF MAINZ PUBLIC SCHOOL LIFE MYSELF WHEN YOUNG CONFESSIONS BY ALEC WAUGH [Illustration: colophon] LONDON GRANT RICHARDS LTD. ST MARTIN’S STREET 1923 Printed in Great Britain by NEILL & CO., LTD., EDINBURGH. FOR MY MOTHER TO WHOM I FIRST SPOKE OF IT WITH MY LOVE I If the majority of one’s friends live in Kensington and Bloomsbury, and if one is fond of going out to parties in the evening, then one should live somewhere midway between these two extremities of charm and culture. With the acceptance of each fresh invitation, I am led increasingly to appreciate that there is no stronger deterrent to one’s enjoyment of an evening than the knowledge that one has at the end of it to get to Golders Green. However agreeable the company, however profuse the hospitality, there must always come that moment when one is forced to weigh the expense of a taxi against the degree of entertainment likely to be derived from a refusal to be disturbed by the sirens of the last tube.