Mr. Hoopdriver rode along the road toward Ripley with a strange feeling of relief.
Surely, he thought, he had finally seen the last of the Young Lady in Grey.
Unfortunately, his bicycle seemed determined to keep dragging him into trouble.
The machine became heavier and harder to control. His legs were getting weaker by the minute.
He began to wonder whether he should stop at Ripley or simply collapse somewhere along the road.
When he reached Ripley, he left his bicycle outside the Unicorn Inn and went inside.
He ordered some cold meat and a drink.
While the food was being prepared, he sat by the window, cooling down and smoking a Red Herring cigarette.
Then he saw them.
The Young Lady in Grey and the man in brown were entering Ripley.
Hoopdriver immediately became nervous.
“They’re coming this way.”
They looked toward the Unicorn.
For a moment, Hoopdriver feared they might come inside.
But then they noticed his bicycle leaning drunkenly against the doorway.
Its bent mudguard and battered lamp made it look almost ridiculous.
Apparently, that sight was enough to send them elsewhere.
They went into the larger Golden Dragon Inn across the road.
The Young Lady was riding very slowly.
The man in brown, however, had suffered a bad puncture and was pushing his bicycle.
Hoopdriver looked carefully at him.
The pale face.
The sharp nose.
The light moustache.
The slightly bent shoulders.
He immediately disliked him.
The maid at the Unicorn was a pleasant enough girl, but she had clearly seen too many cyclists in her life.
Hoopdriver chatted with her about the weather, the distance from London, and how good the Ripley road was.
But his mind wasn’t really on the conversation.
He kept thinking about the Young Lady in Grey.
She seemed wonderfully fresh and lively compared with everyone around him.
While eating, Hoopdriver repeatedly looked toward the window.
He wanted to know whether she would appear again.
Unfortunately, the Golden Dragon showed no sign of giving her back.
Because he was so distracted, he suddenly put a large mouthful of mustard into his mouth.
He nearly choked.
When he finished eating, he paid the bill and stepped outside.
He intended to stand confidently in the doorway with his hands in his pockets and casually watch the Golden Dragon.
Then the man in brown appeared.
He came out of the Golden Dragon yard, pushing his damaged bicycle.
He was taking it to Flambeau, the local bicycle repair shop.
The man looked up.
He saw Hoopdriver.
For a few seconds they stared at each other.
Then the man in brown gave him a dark, unfriendly look.
Hoopdriver refused to move.
He stood firmly in the doorway until the other man disappeared into the repair shop.
Only then did he glance toward the Golden Dragon.
He whistled casually, pretending that none of this mattered.
Then he pushed his bicycle into the road and prepared to mount it.
The truth was that Hoopdriver didn’t really want to see the Young Lady in Grey again.
He assumed the man in brown was probably her brother.
And after everything that had happened, Hoopdriver felt he had already made enough of a fool of himself.
Besides, the afternoon had become unbearably hot.
His head was burning, and his legs had almost no strength left after eating.
The journey toward Guildford became painfully slow.
Sometimes he walked beside his bicycle.
Sometimes he stopped beside the road to rest.
Whenever he saw a pub, he stopped for lemonade with a little bitter added.
He knew Briggs had warned him not to waste money, but resisting the temptation was difficult.
The more he drank, the thirstier he became.
Eventually, a small bag of sharp-tasting green apples helped him recover.
Every so often, another cyclist or a whole group of cyclists passed him.
Whenever that happened, Hoopdriver got off his bicycle and pretended there was something wrong with his saddle.
At least that way he didn’t have to admit that they were simply faster than him.
Still, each time he did it, he became a little more confident about getting back on.
He didn’t reach Guildford until almost four in the afternoon.
By then, he was completely exhausted.
He decided to stay there for the night.
He found a room at the Yellow Hammer Coffee Tavern.
After cooling down, he had tea, bread, butter, and jam.
He drank his tea noisily from the saucer.
Then he went out to explore the town.
Guildford seemed wonderful to him.
It was an old, attractive town with busy streets and pleasant buildings.
He had learned from a guidebook that it was famous for its connection with a historical novel.
There was also an old castle surrounded by flowers and memorial plaques.
The Guildhall was an impressive Tudor building.
In the afternoon, the shops were busy, and people filled the streets.
Hoopdriver especially enjoyed looking into the drapers’ shops.
He could see the young assistants working inside.
He knew exactly what their day was like because, only yesterday, he had been doing the same work.
Now he was free.
He was no longer standing behind a counter waiting for customers.
He even watched cyclists riding down Guildford’s steep streets.
Every time one came down a particularly steep hill, his heart jumped.
“How do they do that without falling?” he wondered.
In the early evening, he visited the castle.
He paid a small fee and climbed to the top of the Keep.
From there, he looked down over the red roofs of Guildford and the church tower.
Then he went to the southern side and sat down.
He lit another cigarette.
Beyond the old ruins, the countryside stretched far into the distance.
Blue hills rose one behind another across the landscape.
Hoopdriver stared south with great satisfaction.
Tomorrow he would ride through all that open country.
Tomorrow would be another day of freedom.
He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice someone else climbing the Keep.
Then he heard a voice behind him.
“Well, Miss Beaumont, here’s the view.”
Something about the way the man said the name made it sound like a joke.
“It’s a lovely old town, brother George,” came another voice.
Hoopdriver immediately recognized it.
He turned around.
There stood the man in brown and the Young Lady in Grey.
They had their backs toward him.
Then the young woman turned slightly.
Hoopdriver saw her smiling profile.
She continued,
“Only, you know, brothers don’t usually call their sisters—”
She glanced over her shoulder.
Then she saw Hoopdriver.
The man in brown followed her gaze.
“Damn!” he said loudly.
Hoopdriver pretended not to hear.
He turned his attention back toward the countryside.
“Beautiful old town, isn’t it?” the man in brown said after a noticeable pause.
“Isn’t it?” the Young Lady replied.
Another uncomfortable silence followed.
The man in brown looked around.
“Can’t get alone anywhere.”
Hoopdriver finally understood.
He was obviously in their way.
So he decided to leave.
Of course, his luck could not have been worse.
As he reached the top of the stairs, he stumbled.
He nearly fell in front of them.
“This is the third time I’ve seen him,” he thought bitterly.
“And the fourth time I’ve seen her.”
He reached the bottom of the Keep and immediately remembered another mistake.
He hadn’t even raised his cap to her.
Why was he such a fool?
It seemed that Miss Beaumont and her brother were also heading toward the South Coast.
Hoopdriver decided to leave early the next morning.
If he started before them, perhaps he could finally get away from them.
It never occurred to him that they might have exactly the same idea.
Nor did he stop to think about the strange fact that the man in brown had called his sister “Miss Beaumont.”
He was far too busy thinking about his own embarrassing behavior.
No matter how many times he replayed the encounters in his mind, he couldn’t decide whether he had behaved well or terribly.
Then, around seven o’clock, he met them again.
This time it happened outside a linen draper’s shop.
Hoopdriver had stopped to look through the window.
He could spend hours watching drapers work.
He told himself he was studying how the shop assistants arranged the displays.
But deep down, he knew that wasn’t the real reason.
After about a minute, he noticed one of the customers inside.
It was the Young Lady in Grey.
Hoopdriver immediately turned away.
Then he saw the man in brown standing at the edge of the pavement.
The man was staring at him with a very strange expression.
Hoopdriver suddenly found himself wondering which of them was actually following the other.
Was he becoming a nuisance to these two people?
Or were they becoming a nuisance to him?
He couldn’t decide.
And now he had another problem.
The next time they met, should he stare at them angrily?
Or should he look apologetic and try to avoid another embarrassing encounter?
For the moment, he had no idea.