ound proper. The foremost rider was a man unused to
such machines and apparently undecided how to dismount. He wabbled a
few yards up the hill with a long tail of machine wabbling behind
him. Finally, he made an attempt to jump off as one does off a single
bicycle, hit his boot against the backbone, and collapsed heavily,
falling on his shoulder.

She stood up. "Dear me!" she said. "I hope he isn't hurt."

The second rider went to the assistance of the fallen man.

Hoopdriver stood up, too. The lank, shaky machine was lifted up and
wheeled out of the way, and then the fallen rider, being assisted, got
up slowly and stood rubbing his arm. No serious injury seemed to be
done to the man, and the couple presently turned their attention to the
machine by the roadside. They were not in cycling clothes Hoopdriver
observed. One wore the grotesque raiment for which the Cockney discovery
of the game of golf seems indirectly blamable. Even at this distance the
flopping flatness of his cap, the bright brown leather at the top of his
calves, and the chequering of his stockings were perceptible. The other,
the rear rider, was a slender little man in grey.

"Amatoors," said Mr. Hoopdriver.

Jessie stood staring, and a veil of thought dropped over her eyes. She
no longer regarded the two men who were now tinkering at the machine
down below there.

"How much have you?" she said.

He thrust his right hand into his pocket and produced six coins, counted
them with his left index finger, and held them out to her. "Thirteen
four half," said Mr. Hoopdriver. "Every penny."

"I have half a sovereign," she said. "Our bill wherever we stop--" The
hiatus was more eloquent than many words.

"I never thought of money coming in to stop us like this," said Jessie.

"It's a juiced nuisance."

"Money," said Jessie. "Is it possible--Surely! Conventionality! May only
people of means--Live their own Lives? I never thought ..."

Pause.

"Here's some more cyclists coming," said Mr. Hoopdriver.

The two men were both busy with their bicycle still, but now from among
the trees emerged the massive bulk of a 'Marlborough Club' tandem,
ridden by a slender woman in grey and a burly man in a Norfolk jacket.
Following close upon this came lank black figure in a piebald straw hat,
riding a tricycle of antiquated pattern with two large wheels in front.
The man in grey remained bowed over the bicycle, with his stomach
resting on the saddle, but his com