"Well, who's dead?" asked Adela, choosing to be exasperatingly literal.
"Nobody's dead; but a lot of people—and things—are a long way off."
"That's not so satisfactorily final," said Adela.
"No, but it serves for the time. Did you see me on my bicycle this morning?"
"What, going round here?" and Adela waved her hand circularly, as though embracing the broad path that runs round the grass by the sea at Dieppe.
"Yes—just behind a charming Parisienne in a pair of—behind a charming Parisienne in an appropriate costume."
"Bessie must get one," said Adela.
"Good heavens!"
"I mean a bicycle."
"Oh, certainly, if she likes; but she'd as soon mount Salisbury Spire."