At Ringwood, Jessie received some bad news.
There was no letter waiting for her at the post office.
Across from the hotel, they noticed a bicycle shop called The Chequered Career. In the window stood an old Marlborough Club tandem, clearly secondhand. A sign announced that bicycles and tricycles were available for hire.
The owner came across the road and took a close look at their bicycles.
Hoopdriver immediately felt uneasy, but fortunately the man did not seem to recognize them.
While they were having lunch, a tall clergyman with a flushed face came into the dining room and sat at the next table.
He was dressed rather strangely for a clergyman. His collar was unusually high, his black jacket was much shorter than a normal coat, and his trousers were covered with dust. He wore worn brown shoes and a spotted straw hat.
He looked like a man who enjoyed talking to strangers.
“What a beautiful day, sir,” he said cheerfully.
“Beautiful,” Hoopdriver replied, while eating his pie.
“I see you are touring the countryside by bicycle.”
“That’s right. We’re touring.”
“I can imagine no better way to see the country. With a good bicycle, it must be wonderfully pleasant.”
“It’s not a bad way to travel,” Hoopdriver agreed.
“For a young married couple, a tandem must be a particularly enjoyable way to travel together.”
Hoopdriver turned slightly red.
“Do you ride a tandem?”
“No. We ride separate bicycles.”
The clergyman nodded thoughtfully.
“There is something wonderfully exhilarating about moving through the countryside on a bicycle.”
He then turned to the waiter and ordered tea, bread and butter, salad, pie, and two gelatin lozenges.
“I must have the gelatin lozenges,” he explained. “They help remove the tannin from tea and make it easier to digest.”
Hoopdriver wasn’t quite sure what to say to that.
The clergyman folded his hands and stared at a picture on the wall.
Then, without warning, he turned back to Hoopdriver.
“I am a cyclist myself.”
“Really?” Hoopdriver said. “What sort of machine do you ride?”
“I recently acquired a tricycle.”
He lowered his voice slightly.
“A bicycle is considered rather too frivolous by some of my parishioners. So I chose a tricycle instead.”
“You rode it here?” Jessie asked.
“I attempted to.”
“What do you mean?”
“I ended up dragging it with a shoelace and carrying part of it on my back.”
Jessie stared at him.
Hoopdriver looked equally surprised.
“Did you have an accident?”
“I wouldn’t exactly call it an accident. The wheels simply stopped turning.”
He took a sip of tea.
“I was about five miles from here when the machine became completely useless.”
“Ouch,” said Hoopdriver, trying to sound sympathetic.
Jessie looked at him as though he had just said something ridiculous.
The clergyman continued.
“My servant washed the bearings with paraffin and then forgot to oil them afterward.”
“So they jammed?”
“Exactly. The machine was already difficult to move, but I assumed the problem was simply my own lack of energy.”
He straightened proudly.
“I always believe in doing my best, so I simply pushed harder.”
“Sounds like hard work,” Hoopdriver said.
“You could certainly call it that.”
The clergyman smiled.
“One of the wheels eventually locked completely. Since it was a side wheel, the entire machine tipped over.”
“You fell off?”
“Precisely.”
The clergyman seemed almost proud of the experience.
“And I fell several times. I was determined not to be defeated by the machine.”
Jessie tried not to laugh.
“Eventually the whole thing became impossible to move. It was basically a heavy chair without wheels.”
“So you had to carry it?”
“Either carry it or drag it.”
The waiter finally brought his food.
“Five miles,” the clergyman said proudly as he began eating his bread and butter.
“Fortunately, I am an energetic man by nature. I believe everyone should be the same.”
“That sounds like a good rule,” Hoopdriver said.
The clergyman stirred his tea.
“Gelatin, as I mentioned, helps precipitate the tannin and makes tea easier to digest.”
“That’s useful to know,” Hoopdriver replied.
“You’re welcome.”
The conversation then gave way to lunch.
That afternoon, Jessie and Hoopdriver continued toward Stoney Cross.
They rode quietly.
The subject of South Africa was carefully avoided.
Hoopdriver had other things on his mind.
At Ringwood, he had changed his last sovereign.
Only now did he realize how little money he had left.
There was still more than twenty pounds in his Post Office savings account in Putney, but the savings book was locked away in his room at the Antrobus establishment.
If he had access to it, he would probably have taken every penny so that he could continue this journey with Jessie for a few more days.
Now he could see the end approaching.
Yet strangely, he wasn’t completely miserable.
He was beginning to forget all the stories he had invented about himself.
He was even forgetting the need to impress Jessie.
He was simply enjoying being with her.
The biggest problem now was how to tell her that their money was almost gone.
The long climb toward Stoney Cross eventually exhausted them.
They got off their bicycles and rested beneath a small oak tree.
The road curved around the hillside, and below them the trees stretched across the valley.
Heather covered the ground, and the sandy road was surrounded by small oak trees.
Hoopdriver nervously took out a cigarette.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“Yes?”
“I want to talk about your plans.”
“My plans?”
“You’ve been thinking about writing books, haven’t you?”
“Yes. Or journalism. Or teaching. Something like that.”
“And you want to support yourself rather than go back to your stepmother?”
“Yes.”
“How long would it take before you could actually find that kind of work?”
“I really don’t know.”
Jessie thought for a moment.
“There are many women working as journalists, inspectors, artists, and writers. But I suppose it takes time to establish yourself.”
“I suppose it does.”
“I may need to contact a literary agent.”
“Of course.”
Hoopdriver hesitated.
“That sort of work would suit you. It’s not like working in a draper’s shop.”
Jessie smiled.
“There can be plenty of hard work in writing.”
“I’m sure that wouldn’t hurt you.”
He paused again.
Then he finally said what had been worrying him.
“There’s a rather unpleasant problem.”
“What problem?”
“We haven’t got much money left.”
Jessie immediately looked at him.
Hoopdriver avoided her eyes.
“I was counting on your friend replying to you and on you being able to make some arrangements today.”
Jessie looked troubled.
“Money?”
“Yes.”
“I hadn’t thought about money.”
“Neither had I, until now.”
Hoopdriver suddenly pointed down the road.
“Look! There’s a tandem.”
Two cyclists were coming up the hill.
They were struggling badly.
The bicycle was clearly too highly geared for such a steep climb.
Eventually the rear rider jumped off and left his companion to struggle alone.
The man at the front seemed completely unfamiliar with the machine.
He wobbled up the hill, trying to work out how to get off.
Then he tried to jump off as though he were riding an ordinary bicycle.
His boot caught the frame.
He fell heavily onto his shoulder.
Jessie stood up immediately.
“Oh dear! I hope he’s not hurt.”
The other rider ran over to help him.
Hoopdriver stood as well.
The fallen man slowly got back onto his feet and rubbed his arm.
He didn’t seem seriously injured.
The two men then turned their attention to the bicycle.
They weren’t dressed like ordinary cyclists.
One wore a ridiculous-looking golfing outfit, complete with a flat cap, brown leather leggings, and patterned socks.
The other was a thin little man dressed in grey.
“Amateurs,” Hoopdriver muttered.
Jessie was no longer paying attention to the men.
She seemed lost in thought.
“How much money do you have?” she asked.
Hoopdriver reached into his pocket.
He pulled out six coins.
He counted them carefully.
“Thirteen shillings and fourpence.”
He held the coins out to her.
“That’s everything.”
Jessie checked her own purse.
“I have half a sovereign.”
She looked at him.
“And after that?”
Hoopdriver said nothing.
“Our hotel bill will take most of it.”
Jessie stared at the road.
“I never imagined money would stop us like this.”
“It’s a terrible nuisance.”
She suddenly looked troubled.
“Money…”
She thought for a moment.
“Is that really how the world works?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can only people with money live their own lives?”
Hoopdriver didn’t answer.
Jessie seemed to be thinking about everything she had believed.
Then Hoopdriver noticed more cyclists approaching.
“Here come some more.”
The two men below were still working on their bicycle.
Behind them appeared a large Marlborough Club tandem.
A slender woman in grey was riding it with a large, powerful-looking man in a Norfolk jacket.
Behind them came the strange clergyman on his old-fashioned tricycle.
The thin man in grey was still bent over the broken bicycle.
His companion seemed to say something to the riders coming up behind them.
Then he pointed toward the hill.
Toward Jessie and Hoopdriver.
The woman in grey suddenly took out a handkerchief.
She waved it.
Then, after the man beside her made a quick gesture, she put it away.
Jessie shaded her eyes and stared.
“Surely…”
The tricycle began climbing the hill.
The clergyman struggled desperately, weaving from side to side.
The big man on the tandem was working just as hard.
Then another vehicle appeared.
It was a dogcart driven by a man wearing a bowler hat.
A woman in dark green was sitting inside.
“It looks like some kind of cycling party,” Hoopdriver said.
Jessie didn’t answer.
She was still staring.
“Surely…”
The clergyman’s struggle became almost comical.
His tricycle suddenly twisted sideways.
He partly fell and partly jumped off.
Then he turned it around and began pushing it uphill.
The large man on the tandem got off and helped the woman in grey.
She clearly wanted to help push, but eventually allowed him to do it himself.
He pushed the heavy tandem up the hill with all his strength.
The broken tandem below had finally been repaired.
Its riders joined the procession.
The people in the dogcart also got out.
Jessie suddenly understood.
“Mr. Hoopdriver…”
“Yes?”
“Those people…”
She stared at the approaching cyclists.
“I’m almost certain—”
Hoopdriver saw the fear in her face.
“Good Lord!”
He immediately grabbed his bicycle.
Then he dropped it again and helped Jessie onto hers.
The moment Jessie appeared against the skyline, the people coming up the hill became excited.
Two handkerchiefs waved.
Someone shouted.
The riders of the tandem began running their bicycle uphill.
Jessie and Hoopdriver didn’t wait.
They mounted their bicycles and raced away.
Within moments they had disappeared over the hill.
Before they reached the trees, Jessie looked back.
The tandem had reached the top.
Its rear rider was just climbing back onto his seat.
“They’re coming,” she said.
Then she bent over her handlebars and began riding as hard as she could.
They raced down into the valley.
They crossed a small white bridge.
Ahead of them, several shaggy ponies were wandering across the road.
They slowed down.
“Shoo!” Hoopdriver shouted.
The ponies ignored him.
Hoopdriver lost his temper.
He charged toward them.
One pony narrowly avoided him and the others jumped into the ditch and disappeared into the bushes.
The road began climbing again.
The pedals became harder to turn.
Hoopdriver’s breathing grew loud and heavy.
Behind them, the tandem was coming up the hill.
It was gaining on them.
Then, thankfully, they reached the top.
The road ahead went up and down through the countryside, but there was one serious problem.
The afternoon sun was beating down on them.
The tandem riders had apparently stopped to walk their bicycles up the hill.
Jessie and Hoopdriver gained some distance.
“We’re getting away!” Hoopdriver gasped.
Sweat was running down his face.
“That hill slowed them down.”
But their advantage didn’t last.
They were both exhausted.
Hoopdriver was almost finished.
Only his pride kept him moving.
The tandem began catching them again.
By the time they reached the Rufus Stone, it was less than a hundred yards behind.
They made one final desperate effort.
Then the road suddenly dropped downhill through thick pine woods.
That was exactly what the tandem needed.
A highly geared tandem could move incredibly fast downhill.
Hoopdriver automatically lifted his feet from the pedals.
Jessie slowed down.
A moment later they heard the rushing sound of the tandem’s tires.
It swept past Hoopdriver and moved alongside Jessie.
Hoopdriver felt an almost irresistible urge to crash into it.
Then he noticed something that made him feel slightly better.
The two men were riding just as desperately as they were.
Both were covered in white dust.
Suddenly Jessie stopped.
She got off her bicycle.
The tandem shot past them.
“Brake!” shouted the rear rider.
He stood on the pedals.
For a moment the tandem became even faster.
Then the front brake caught the tire violently.
Dust flew into the air.
The rear rider’s leg went wildly sideways as he fell off.
The tandem began to wobble.
“Hold it!” the front rider shouted.
“I can’t get off unless you hold it!”
He kept braking until the bicycle nearly stopped.
Then, feeling the machine becoming unstable, he started pedaling again.
“Put your foot down!” the rear rider shouted.
The tandem carried them another hundred yards before they finally managed to stop.
The front rider realized he had to abandon the machine.
He released the brake and deliberately let the tandem fall sideways.
He landed on his right foot.
His left leg was still over the saddle.
Still holding the handlebars, he looked back angrily.
“You only think about yourself!” he shouted at his companion.
Meanwhile, Jessie turned her bicycle around.
“They’ve forgotten about us,” she said.
“There was another road at the top of the hill,” Hoopdriver said. “It goes toward Lyndhurst.”
Jessie shook her head.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Why not?”
She looked at him seriously.
“We’re almost out of money. We have to give this up.”
Hoopdriver stared at her.
“But we don’t have to let them capture us.”
Jessie turned her bicycle around.
“Let’s go back to the hotel at Rufus Stone.”
Hoopdriver followed.
They rode quietly back up the hill.
The tandem riders were completely astonished to see them coming back.
Jessie and Hoopdriver dismounted outside the hotel.
A moment later, the tandem caught up with them.
The dogcart appeared behind it.
The rear rider jumped off.
“Miss Milton, I believe?”
He was breathing heavily.
He removed his wet cap and tried to straighten his hair.
The other rider stepped backward.
“I say, Dangle. Don’t keep doing that. Give a fellow a hand.”
“One moment.”
Dangle ran after him.
Jessie leaned her bicycle against the wall and walked into the hotel.
Hoopdriver remained outside.
He was exhausted, embarrassed, and completely unwilling to surrender.