Instantly I pushed forward to assist her, but before I could reach her she was on her feet.

She made a step towards her bicycle, which lay in the middle of the road, and then she stopped and stood still.

I saw that she was hurt, but I could not help a sort of inward smile.

"It is the old way of the world," I thought.
"Would the Fates have made that young woman fall from her bicycle if there had been two men coming along on their wheels ?" As I jumped from my machine and approached her she turned her head and looked at me.

She was a pale girl, and her face was troubled.