ped down a little hill, where, unfenced from the road, fine mossy trees and bracken lay on either side; and looking up he saw an open country before him, covered with heather and set with pines,

ver a stone, wabbled, recovered, and began riding faster a

ession of his legs." It CAN'T be," he repeated, feeling every moment more assured that it WAS.

aw her, not a hundred yards away from him. "It's her!" he said. "It's her--right enough. It's the suit's done it,"--which was truer even than Mr. Hoopdriver thought. But now she was not waving her handkerchief, she was

ld he ride up to her and get off, or get off and ride up to her? It was as well she didn't look, because he would certainly capsize if he lifted his cap. Perhaps that was her consideration. Even as he hesitated he

much. He was a man singularly devoid of the minutiae of self-consciousness, and he was quite unaware of a tail of damp hair lyi

y. "I mean" (remembering his emancipation and abruptly assuming his

id very prettily, "None, thank you." She glance

crestfallen again. It was so unexpected. He tried to

he said, as she began t

staring a little, with the c

had not--imagined that you--er, w

nnocent soul meaning well while seeking happiness. "I DID wave my handkerchief," she said. "I'm very sorry. I am expecting--a friend,

aring up in manly fashion against hi

know. Troubling you to

to tell her that the man was beyond there with a punctured pneumatic. He looked back along the road and tried to think of something else to say. But th

id decisively. And immediate

"Ripley is about two miles from he

ou so much. I felt sure there was no m

ipped his handles to mount. "It's me," he said, "ought to be sorry." Should he s

y too painfully aware. Nevertheless, thank Heaven for the mounting! He could not see her because it was so dangerous for him to look round, but he could imagine her indignant and pitiless. He felt an unspeakable idiot. One had to be so careful what one said to Young Ladies, and he'd gone and treated her just as though she

n accent was. And that last silly remark. What was it ? 'Not being the other gentle

not an atom of offence. But for her just now there were weightier things to think about, things that would affect all the rest of her life. She continued slowly walking her machine Londonward. Presently she