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The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll

H. G. Wells

Mr. Hoopdriver, a poorly paid draper's assistant, escapes his grinding routine for a ten-day bicycling holiday along England's southern coast.

"The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll" by H. G. Wells is a comic novel. Mr. Hoopdriver, a poorly paid draper's assistant, escapes his grinding routine for a ten-day bicycling holiday along England's southern coast.

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Read a passage

At supper that night, holiday talk held undisputed sway. Mr. Pritchard spoke of “Scotland,” Miss Isaacs clamoured of Bettws-y-Coed, Mr. Judson displayed a proprietary interest in the Norfolk Broads. “I?” said Hoopdriver when the question came to him. “Why, cycling, of course.”

“You’re never going to ride that dreadful machine of yours, day after day?” said Miss Howe of the Costume Department.

“I am,” said Hoopdriver as calmly as possible, pulling at the insufficient moustache. “I’m going for a Cycling Tour. Along the South Coast.”

“Well, all I hope, Mr. Hoopdriver, is that you’ll get fine weather,” said Miss Howe. “And not come any nasty croppers.”

“And done forget some tinscher of arnica in yer bag,” said the junior apprentice in the very high collar. (He had witnessed one of the lessons at the top of Putney Hill.)

“You stow it,” said Mr. Hoopdriver, looking hard and threateningly at the junior apprentice, and suddenly adding in a tone of bitter contempt,—“Jampot.”

“I’m getting fairly safe upon it now,” he told Miss Howe.

Contents

  1. 01I. The Principal Character in the Story
  2. 02II
  3. 03III
  4. 04IV. The Riding Forth of Mr. Hoopdriver
  5. 05V. The Shameful Episode of the Young Lady in Grey
  6. 06VI. On the Road to Ripley
  7. 07VII.
  8. 08VIII.
  9. 09IX. How Mr. Hoopdriver Was Haunted
  10. 10X. The Imaginings of Mr. Hoopdriver’s Heart
  11. 11XI. Omissions
  12. 12XII. The Dreams of Mr. Hoopdriver
  13. 13XIII. How Mr. Hoopdriver Went to Haslemere
  14. 14XIV. How Mr. Hoopdriver Reached Midhurst
  15. 15XV. An Interlude
  16. 16XVI. Of the Artificial in Man, and of the Zeitgeist
  17. 17XVII. The Encounter at Midhurst
  18. 18XVIII.
  19. 19XIX.
  20. 20XX. The Pursuit
  21. 21XXI. At Bognor
  22. 22XXII.
  23. 23XXIII.
  24. 24XXIV. The Moonlight Ride
  25. 25XXV.
  26. 26XXVI. The Surbiton Interlude
  27. 27XXVII. The Awakening of Mr. Hoopdriver
  28. 28XXVIII. The Departure from Chichester
  29. 29XXIX. The Unexpected Anecdote of the Lion
  30. 30XXX. The Rescue Expedition
  31. 31XXXI.
  32. 32XXXII. Mr. Hoopdriver, Knight Errant
  33. 33XXXIII. The Abasement of Mr. Hoopdriver
  34. 34XXXIV.
  35. 35XXXV.
  36. 36XXXVI.
  37. 37XXXVII. In the New Forest
  38. 38XXXVIII. At the Rufus Stone
  39. 39XXXIX.
  40. 40XL.
  41. 41XLI. The Envoy

About this edition

Author
H. G. Wells
Era
Modern (c. 1800–1945)
Reading level
Intermediate: some philosophy helps
Formats
EPUB, PDF
Length
184 pages
This edition
Modern Philosophers