Twenty-Five .sx 1924-1927 .sx BEFORE he left Australia to spend a holiday in New York , Beverley conceived the idea of his autobiography , to be called Twenty-Five , and the opening lines had a Wildean flourish :sx twenty-five , he said , was the latest age at which anyone should write his autobiography .sx It was an audacious approach , characteristically impertinent , and it was to pay off handsomely .sx He came to life again in the dynamic atmosphere of New York , throwing off the inhibitions of the Melba months with typical freneticism , and before he left again for Europe he had sold the serial rights of Melba's book , Melodies and Memories , and discussed Twenty-Five with his American publisher , George Doran of Doubleday , Doran .sx In England he found that Cleave Court had been sold .sx His mother had finally come to terms with reality , but it was terrible for her to leave the home she loved .sx Their new home was at 4 , Cambridge Square , Bayswater , the vicarage of St Michael's Church , Paddington where Paul was now the incumbent .sx It was a sensible arrangement :sx the furniture from Cleave Court filled its many rooms and Pauline acted as Paul's hostess and helpmate .sx There was no niche for John , who made a life of his own around the local bars .sx Bayswater was still clinging to its past glory , but deterioration was setting in rapidly as the grand terraces became flats and rooming-houses , and the brothel area near Paddington Station grew even seedier .sx It was becoming a district where eccentric old women and tired old men attempted to retain some semblance of dignity in furnished rooms , with a gas ring to cook on and a shared bathroom on the first floor .sx But errand boys still whistled popular tunes as they cycled round delivering orders , a muffin man still rang his bell in the afternoon and a potato seller pushed a cart with a glass tank of peeled potatoes floating in water .sx Occasionally , maids in uniform scurried to post letters and the sight of a policeman on his beat was commonplace - it was safe to walk the streets at night .sx Westbourne Grove could no longer be compared to Bond Street but Whiteley's still prospered :sx the orchestra played in the balcony while the displays in the magnificent food hall rivalled those of Harrods .sx There were plenty of local cinemas , such as the Roxy or the Blue Hall , to provide relaxation for Pauline .sx Hyde Park was only a short distance away , and in Oxford Street she could wander round the big shops .sx Altogether , it was a livelier place to be than Torquay , but she missed having her own garden , and the fresh air .sx London air was heavy with pollution and in Bayswater the sharp , gaseous smell of coal-fired trains drifted over from Paddington station .sx The Nicholses were comfortably off , though care had to be taken over the housekeeping and there were also John's drinking bouts to be paid for .sx Pauline made do with a cook , a parlour-maid and a cleaning lady who came in to do the heavy work .sx By the standards of the women Beverley mixed with , Pauline was dowdy but , by her own , she was well dressed :sx she could sit over afternoon tea at Whiteley's or Selfridge's , secure in the knowledge that her clothes were good and that she was a lady .sx John did not let his appearance deteriorate either and when he sallied forth , eyeglass and button hole firmly in place , he still looked the prosperous gentleman .sx Beverley returned temporarily to his rooms at 54 , Bryanston Street but , with money in the bank , he decided it was time to rent a house .sx If his mother hoped to persuade him to join them in Cambridge Square , only a short distance from Bryanston Street , she was disappointed .sx He started his search well away from Bayswater ; however much he loved her , he did not want his mother on the doorstep .sx He eventually found a small house in Hasker Street , not far from Harrods , and took it on a short lease .sx Melba , back in England , gave him several items including a set of Queen Anne chairs , a small Empire desk , a Marie Antoinette couch , a Louis Seize ormolu clock mounted with cupids and two gouaches by Guardi .sx These gave the house an air of elegance well beyond his pocket .sx Melba later demanded , following a slight tiff , that all her gifts be returned .sx In the mean time , Beverley settled down to write Twenty-Five .sx He was also working with Northcliffe newspapers as a theatre critic and general factotum , and soon realized that he could not run the house with the sole help of a daily woman .sx He decided to find a manservant who could act as cook , housekeeper and valet .sx In Down the Kitchen Sink , he told the charming story of the man he employed , Reginald Arthur Gaskin .sx It was his mother , he said , who had discovered him while she was visiting Alan who had been taken to a nursing-home in Norfolk .sx Gaskin , only twenty-one , apparently ran this establishment almost single-handed , scrubbing floors , changing beds and doing the cooking .sx This paragon eventually appeared on Beverley's doorstep in his ill-fitting suit , pink-cheeked and bright-eyed , the epitome of the country boy .sx The truth was not so romantic :sx Gaskin was found through a domestic employment agency .sx He had all the necessary accomplishments but , almost as important , he was a homosexual .sx A contemporary remarked of him , " Gay ?sx He invented it !sx " Whether , as with many of Beverley's male friendships , there was an initial sexual attraction is not clear , but the two men got on well from the start .sx Gaskin made an important contribution when he introduced a kitten into the house .sx Beverley had always been fond of cats ; in his schoolboy diaries , he had written of a new " Mookit " with eyes like stars , of the panic when one of the household cats went missing and of the joy when it was found .sx But it was Gaskin who took responsibility for the cats which were to feature in Beverley's books .sx Among his other skills , Gaskin was an excellent chef and Beverley was soon entertaining a growing circle of friends to dinner-parties at his little house .sx Those in the know looked forward to Gaskin's delectable cooking and he was often approached with seductive financial offers to leave Beverley , but he always declined , with tact and dignity .sx Noel Coward once asked if there was the slightest chance of persuading Gaskin to change his allegiance , knowing full well what the answer would be .sx Beverley's home rapidly became a centre for the bright young things of the day but their behaviour did not always meet with Gaskin's approval .sx He found Tallulah Bankhead particularly trying .sx After one party , she seated herself on the red carpet outside the front door and insisted on being pulled up and down the street by a contingent of whooping young men whom she flayed with an imaginary whip and urged on with language strong enough to embarrass the entire neighbourhood .sx Gaskin glowered at this spectacle and later remarked icily to Beverley , " I believe she was born a lady ?sx " Telling this story years later , Beverley added , " The custom of putting a red carpet down on the pavement so that one's dinner guests could get out of their cars on to a soft surface was not unusual .sx Today , people would think it a mad thing to do - besides , the carpet would be stolen within minutes .sx " .sx Among his new friends were Somerset Maugham and his wife Syrie .sx Their marriage was under considerable strain and Beverley experienced some of the unpleasantness at first hand .sx After their divorce , his sympathy lay with Syrie but he was not prepared to lose the patronage of one of England's most acclaimed authors , so he trod a delicate tightrope between the two protagonists and managed to remain friends with both .sx This meant accepting Gerald Haxton , Maugham's American lover , whom he disliked intensely .sx Another new friend was Barbara Back , the wife of Ivor Back , a prominent surgeon .sx She was bright , charming and pretty , and enjoyed the company of gay men who , in response , confided their problems to her .sx Beverley liked her enormously , but years later he was appalled to discover that she not only betrayed confidences but also fabricated stories about people to amuse her friends .sx She found particular pleasure in telling Maugham her titbits and Beverley was distressed by the salty tales she invented about his own love life .sx Another of this circle was Rebecca West with whom he developed a close affinity .sx She , too , was appalled by Barbara Back's behaviour when she found out about it many years later , and in letters to Beverley made no secret of her disgust with her old and once trusted friend .sx Beverley completed Twenty-Five in 1925 , and dedicated it to George and Blanche , his uncle and aunt .sx It included an interview with Maugham , which was something of a coup , for he rarely gave them .sx In the interview , Maugham said , with what may have been deliberate irony , that he could not understand why there were so few tales told about him .sx It was a neat portrait which concealed more than it revealed , and the same might be said of the sketches of Noel Coward , Michael Arlen , Winston Churchill and Elinor Glyn ( who told Beverley in all seriousness that he had been a horse in a previous existence) .sx He described his visits to America , Australia and Greece - in the Greek section , as has already been mentioned , he re-used material from The Athenians .sx As well as his interview with the Queen , he included one with King Constantine , and , with the careful use of the word 'alleged' , he also told the story of Compton Mackenzie's activities against the King , managing to make it all appear faintly absurd .sx Mackenzie , in his book My Life and Times , Octave Six , published in 1967 , dismissed Beverley's story as a piece of " juvenile silliness " - which was not the same thing , however , as a denial .sx It is quite clear from Mackenzie's writings that he regarded Constantine at the time as an obstacle to his work on behalf of the Allies .sx Twenty-Five was not autobiographical in the conventional sense .sx Alec Waugh pointed this out in his review , saying that the autobiographical element was very clearly dependent on the effect others had on the author rather than anything the author said about himself .sx This , he added , was something new , subtle and indirect .sx It would today be easy to underestimate Twenty-Five , but at the time , nothing quite like it had been seen before , and it spawned a host of imitators , none of whom captured its originality , humour or beguiling audacity .sx It soon shot into the best-seller list , helped on its way by an article in the Sunday Times by Maugham himself , who wrote his piece without payment as a birthday present to Beverley .sx It was not a critique in the accepted sense and in it Maugham poked gentle fun at professional book-reviewers , some of whom he had been " privileged " to meet from time to time , who had impressed him with their flashing eyes , wanton hair and looks of eager determination , and had awed him with their universal knowledge and confidence in themselves .sx At a dinner given for such a group by Osbert Sitwell , he had listened , forlorn and strange , while they discussed James Elroy Flecker .sx In order to show an intelligent interest , he had asked the least formidable of them if he did not find it very exhausting to read books for reviews .sx With a smile the reviewer replied that he seldom came across a book whose heart he could not tear out in an hour .sx For such a drastic operation , Maugham admitted he had no facility - he must read to the end .sx He confessed that the first chapter he had read in Twenty-Five was the one about himself , and he was much excited to discover that , to Beverley , he was romantic , saturnine and bleak , whereas he thought of himself as a very quiet , retiring person .sx Noel Coward reviewed the book for the Daily Mail with wit and perception .sx