Around the World in 80 Days
'I blame no one,' returned Phileas Fogg, with perfect
calmness. 'Go!'
Passepartout left the room, and went to find Aouda, to
whom he delivered his master's message.
'Madam,' he added, 'I can do nothing myself—
nothing! I have no influence over my master; but you,
perhaps—'
'What influence could I have?' replied Aouda. 'Mr.
Fogg is influenced by no one. Has he ever understood that
my gratitude to him is overflowing? Has he ever read my
heart? My friend, he must not be left alone an instant! You
say he is going to speak with me this evening?'
'Yes, madam; probably to arrange for your protection
and comfort in England.'
'We shall see,' replied Aouda, becoming suddenly
pensive.
Throughout this day (Sunday) the house in Saville
Row was as if uninhabited, and Phileas Fogg, for the first
time since he had lived in that house, did not set out for
his club when Westminster clock struck half-past eleven.
Why should he present himself at the Reform? His
friends no longer expected him there. As Phileas Fogg had
not appeared in the saloon on the evening before
(Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine),
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he had lost his wager. It was not even necessary that he
should go to his bankers for the twenty thousand pounds;
for his antagonists already had his cheque in their hands,
and they had only to fill it out and send it to the Barings
to have the amount transferred to their credit.
Mr. Fogg, therefore, had no reason for going out, and
so he remained at home. He shut himself up in his room,
and busied himself putting his affairs in order. Passepartout
continually ascended and descended the stairs. The hours
were long for him. He listened at his master's door, and
looked through the keyhole, as if he had a perfect right so
to do, and as if he feared that something terrible might
happen at any moment. Sometimes he thought of Fix, but
no longer in anger. Fix, like all the world, had been
mistaken in Phileas Fogg, and had only done his duty in
tracking and arresting him; while he, Passepartout?. This
thought haunted him, and he never ceased cursing his
miserable folly.
Finding himself too wretched to remain alone, he
knocked at Aouda's door, went into her room, seated
himself, without speaking, in a corner, and looked ruefully
at the young woman. Aouda was still pensive.
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Around the World in 80 Days
About half-past seven in the evening Mr. Fogg sent to
know if Aouda would receive him, and in a few moments
he found himself alone with her.
Phileas Fogg took a chair, and sat down near the
fireplace, opposite Aouda. No emotion was visible on his
face. Fogg returned was exactly the Fogg who had gone
away; there was the same calm, the same impassibility.
He sat several minutes without speaking; then, bending
his eyes on Aouda, 'Madam,' said he, 'will you pardon me
for bringing you to England?'
'I, Mr. Fogg!' replied Aouda, checking the pulsations of
her heart.
'Please let me finish,' returned Mr. Fogg. 'When I
decided to bring you far away from the country which
was so unsafe for you, I was rich, and counted on putting
a portion of my fortune at your disposal; then your
existence would have been free and happy. But now I am
ruined.'
'I know it, Mr. Fogg,' replied Aouda; 'and I ask you in
my turn, will you forgive me for having followed you,
and—who knows?—for having, perhaps, delayed you, and
thus contributed to your ruin?'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Madam, you could not remain in India, and your
safety could only be assured by bringing you to such a
distance that your persecutors could not take you.'
'So, Mr. Fogg,' resumed Aouda, 'not content with
rescuing me from a terrible death, you thought yourself
bound to secure my comfort in a foreign land?'
'Yes, madam; but circumstances have been against me.
Still, I beg to place the little I have left at your service.'
'But what will become of you, Mr. Fogg?'
'As for me, madam,' replied the gentleman, coldly, 'I
have need of nothing.'
'But how do you look upon the fate, sir, which awaits
you?'
'As I am in the habit of doing.'
'At least,' said Aouda, 'want should not overtake a man
like you. Your friends—'
'I have no friends, madam.'
'Your relatives—'
'I have no longer any relatives.'
'I pity you, then, Mr. Fogg, for solitude is a sad thing,
with no heart to which to confide your griefs. They say,
though, that misery itself, shared by two sympathetic souls,
may be borne with patience.'
'They say so, madam.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Mr. Fogg,' said Aouda, rising and seizing his hand, 'do
you wish at once a kinswoman and friend? Will you have
me for your wife?'
Mr. Fogg, at this, rose in his turn. There was an
unwonted light in his eyes, and a slight trembling of his
lips. Aouda looked into his face. The sincerity, rectitude,
firmness, and sweetness of this soft glance of a noble
woman, who could dare all to save him to whom she
owed all, at first astonished, then penetrated him. He shut
his eyes for an instant, as if to avoid her look. When he
opened them again, 'I love you!' he said, simply. 'Yes, by
all that is holiest, I love you, and I am entirely yours!'
'Ah!' cried Aouda, pressing his hand to her heart.
Passepartout was summoned and appeared immediately.
Mr. Fogg still held Aouda's hand in his own; Passepartout
understood, and his big, round face became as radiant as
the tropical sun at its zenith.
Mr. Fogg asked him if it was not too late to notify the
Reverend Samuel Wilson, of Marylebone parish, that
evening.
Passepartout smiled his most genial smile, and said,
'Never too late.'
It was five minutes past eight.
'Will it be for to-morrow, Monday?'
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'For to-morrow, Monday,' said Mr. Fogg, turning to
Aouda.
'Yes; for to-morrow, Monday,' she replied.
Passepartout hurried off as fast as his legs could carry
him.
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Around the World in 80 Days
Chapter XXXVI
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG'S
NAME IS ONCE MORE AT A
PREMIUM ON 'CHANGE
It is time to relate what a change took place in English
public opinion when it transpired that the real bankrobber,
a certain James Strand, had been arrested, on the 17th day
of December, at Edinburgh. Three days before, Phileas
Fogg had been a criminal, who was being desperately
followed up by the police; now he was an honourable
gentleman, mathematically pursuing his eccentric journey
round the world.
The papers resumed their discussion about the wager;
all those who had laid bets, for or against him, revived
their interest, as if by magic; the 'Phileas Fogg bonds'
again became negotiable, and many new wagers were
made. Phileas Fogg's name was once more at a premium
on 'Change.
His five friends of the Reform Club passed these three
days in a state of feverish suspense. Would Phileas Fogg,
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Around the World in 80 Days
whom they had forgotten, reappear before their eyes!
Where was he at this moment? The 17th of December,
the day of James Strand's arrest, was the seventy-sixth
since Phileas Fogg's departure, and no news of him had
been received. Was he dead? Had he abandoned the effort,
or was he continuing his journey along the route agreed
upon? And would he appear on Saturday, the 21st of
December, at a quarter before nine in the evening, on the
threshold of the Reform Club saloon?
The anxiety in which, for three days, London society
existed, cannot be described. Telegrams were sent to
America and Asia for news of Phileas Fogg. Messengers
were dispatched to the house in Saville Row morning and
evening. No news. The police were ignorant what had
become of the detective, Fix, who had so unfortunately
followed up a false scent. Bets increased, nevertheless, in
number and value. Phileas Fogg, like a racehorse, was
drawing near his last turning-point. The bonds were
quoted, no longer at a hundred below par, but at twenty,
at ten, and at five; and paralytic old Lord Albemarle bet
even in his favour.
A great crowd was collected in Pall Mall and the
neighbouring streets on Saturday evening; it seemed like a
multitude of brokers permanently established around the
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Around the World in 80 Days
Reform Club. Circulation was impeded, and everywhere
disputes, discussions, and financial transactions were going
on. The police had great difficulty in keeping back the
crowd, and as the hour when Phileas Fogg was due
approached, the excitement rose to its highest pitch.
The five antagonists of Phileas Fogg had met in the
great saloon of the club. John Sullivan and Samuel
Fallentin, the bankers, Andrew Stuart, the engineer,
Gauthier Ralph, the director of the Bank of England, and
Thomas Flanagan, the brewer, one and all waited
anxiously.
When the clock indicated twenty minutes past eight,
Andrew Stuart got up, saying, 'Gentlemen, in twenty
minutes the time agreed upon between Mr. Fogg and
ourselves will have expired.'
'What time did the last train arrive from Liverpool?'
asked Thomas Flanagan.
'At twenty-three minutes past seven,' replied Gauthier
Ralph; 'and the next does not arrive till ten minutes after
twelve.'
'Well, gentlemen,' resumed Andrew Stuart, 'if Phileas
Fogg had come in the 7:23 train, he would have got here
by this time. We can, therefore, regard the bet as won.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Wait; don't let us be too hasty,' replied Samuel
Fallentin. 'You know that Mr. Fogg is very eccentric. His
punctuality is well known; he never arrives too soon, or
too late; and I should not be surprised if he appeared
before us at the last minute.'
'Why,' said Andrew Stuart nervously, 'if I should see
him, I should not believe it was he.'
'The fact is,' resumed Thomas Flanagan, 'Mr. Fogg's
project was absurdly foolish. Whatever his punctuality, he
could not prevent the delays which were certain to occur;
and a delay of only two or three days would be fatal to his
tour.'
'Observe, too,' added John Sullivan, 'that we have
received no intelligence from him, though there are
telegraphic lines all along is route.'
'He has lost, gentleman,' said Andrew Stuart, 'he has a
hundred times lost! You know, besides, that the China the
only steamer he could have taken from New York to get
here in time arrived yesterday. I have seen a list of the
passengers, and the name of Phileas Fogg is not among
them. Even if we admit that fortune has favoured him, he
can scarcely have reached America. I think he will be at
least twenty days behind-hand, and that Lord Albemarle
will lose a cool five thousand.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'It is clear,' replied Gauthier Ralph; 'and we have
nothing to do but to present Mr. Fogg's cheque at Barings
to-morrow.'
At this moment, the hands of the club clock pointed to
twenty minutes to nine.
'Five minutes more,' said Andrew Stuart.
The five gentlemen looked at each other. Their anxiety
was becoming intense; but, not wishing to betray it, they
readily assented to Mr. Fallentin's proposal of a rubber.
'I wouldn't give up my four thousand of the bet,' said
Andrew Stuart, as he took his seat, 'for three thousand
nine hundred and ninety-nine.'
The clock indicated eighteen minutes to nine.
The players took up their cards, but could not keep
their eyes off the clock. Certainly, however secure they
felt, minutes had never seemed so long to them!
'Seventeen minutes to nine,' said Thomas Flanagan, as
he cut the cards which Ralph handed to him.
Then there was a moment of silence. The great saloon
was perfectly quiet; but the murmurs of the crowd outside
were heard, with now and then a shrill cry. The
pendulum beat the seconds, which each player eagerly
counted, as he listened, with mathematical regularity.
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Sixteen minutes to nine!' said John Sullivan, in a voice
which betrayed his emotion.
One minute more, and the wager would be won.
Andrew Stuart and his partners suspended their game.
They left their cards, and counted the seconds.
At the fortieth second, nothing. At the fiftieth, still
nothing.
At the fifty-fifth, a loud cry was heard in the street,
followed by applause, hurrahs, and some fierce growls.
The players rose from their seats.
At the fifty-seventh second the door of the saloon
opened; and the pendulum had not beat the sixtieth
second when Phileas Fogg appeared, followed by an
excited crowd who had forced their way through the club
doors, and in his calm voice, said, 'Here I am, gentlemen!'
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Around the World in 80 Days
Chapter XXXVII
IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN
THAT PHILEAS FOGG GAINED
NOTHING BY HIS TOUR
AROUND THE WORLD,
UNLESS IT WERE HAPPINESS
Yes; Phileas Fogg in person.
The reader will remember that at five minutes past
eight in the evening— about five and twenty hours after
the arrival of the travellers in London— Passepartout had
been sent by his master to engage the services of the
Reverend Samuel Wilson in a certain marriage ceremony,
which was to take place the next day.
Passepartout went on his errand enchanted. He soon
reached the clergyman's house, but found him not at
home. Passepartout waited a good twenty minutes, and
when he left the reverend gentleman, it was thirty-five
minutes past eight. But in what a state he was! With his
hair in disorder, and without his hat, he ran along the
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Around the World in 80 Days
street as never man was seen to run before, overturning
passers-by, rushing over the sidewalk like a waterspout.
In three minutes he was in Saville Row again, and
staggered back into Mr. Fogg's room.
He could not speak.
'What is the matter?' asked Mr. Fogg.
'My master!' gasped Passepartout—'marriage—
impossible—'
'Impossible?'
'Impossible—for to-morrow.'
'Why so?'
'Because to-morrow—is Sunday!'
'Monday,' replied Mr. Fogg.
'No—to-day is Saturday.'
'Saturday? Impossible!'
'Yes, yes, yes, yes!' cried Passepartout. 'You have made
a mistake of one day! We arrived twenty-four hours ahead
of time; but there are only ten minutes left!'
Passepartout had seized his master by the collar, and
was dragging him along with irresistible force.
Phileas Fogg, thus kidnapped, without having time to
think, left his house, jumped into a cab, promised a
hundred pounds to the cabman, and, having run over two
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Around the World in 80 Days
dogs and overturned five carriages, reached the Reform
Club.
The clock indicated a quarter before nine when he
appeared in the great saloon.
Phileas Fogg had accomplished the journey round the
world in eighty days!
Phileas Fogg had won his wager of twenty thousand
pounds!
How was it that a man so exact and fastidious could
have made this error of a day? How came he to think that
he had arrived in London on Saturday, the twenty-first
day of December, when it was really Friday, the
twentieth, the seventy-ninth day only from his departure?
The cause of the error is very simple.
Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day
on his journey, and this merely because he had travelled
constantly eastward; he would, on the contrary, have lost a
day had he gone in the opposite direction, that is,
westward.
In journeying eastward he had gone towards the sun,
and the days therefore diminished for him as many times
four minutes as he crossed degrees in this direction. There
are three hundred and sixty degrees on the circumference
of the earth; and these three hundred and sixty degrees,
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Around the World in 80 Days
multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-four
hours—that is, the day unconsciously gained. In other
words, while Phileas Fogg, going eastward, saw the sun
pass the meridian eighty times, his friends in London only
saw it pass the meridian seventy-nine times. This is why
they awaited him at the Reform Club on Saturday, and
not Sunday, as Mr. Fogg thought.
And Passepartout's famous family watch, which had
always kept London time, would have betrayed this fact, if
it had marked the days as well as the hours and the
minutes!
Phileas Fogg, then, had won the twenty thousand
pounds; but, as he had spent nearly nineteen thousand on
the way, the pecuniary gain was small. His object was,
however, to be victorious, and not to win money. He
divided the one thousand pounds that remained between
Passepartout and the unfortunate Fix, against whom he
cherished no grudge. He deducted, however, from
Passepartout's share the cost of the gas which had burned
in his room for nineteen hundred and twenty hours, for
the sake of regularity.
That evening, Mr. Fogg, as tranquil and phlegmatic as
ever, said to Aouda: 'Is our marriage still agreeable to
you?'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Mr. Fogg,' replied she, 'it is for me to ask that
question. You were ruined, but now you are rich again.'
'Pardon me, madam; my fortune belongs to you. If you
had not suggested our marriage, my servant would not
have gone to the Reverend Samuel Wilson's, I should not
have been apprised of my error, and—'
'Dear Mr. Fogg!' said the young woman.
'Dear Aouda!' replied Phileas Fogg.
It need not be said that the marriage took place forty-
eight hours after, and that Passepartout, glowing and
dazzling, gave the bride away. Had he not saved her, and
was he not entitled to this honour?
The next day, as soon as it was light, Passepartout
rapped vigorously at his master's door. Mr. Fogg opened
it, and asked, 'What's the matter, Passepartout?'
'What is it, sir? Why, I've just this instant found out—'
'What?'
'That we might have made the tour of the world in
only seventy-eight days.'
'No doubt,' returned Mr. Fogg, 'by not crossing India.
But if I had not crossed India, I should not have saved
Aouda; she would not have been my wife, and—'
Mr. Fogg quietly shut the door.
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Around the World in 80 Days
Phileas Fogg had won his wager, and had made his
journey around the world in eighty days. To do this he
had employed every means of conveyance—steamers,
railways, carriages, yachts, trading-vessels, sledges,
elephants. The eccentric gentleman had throughout
displayed all his marvellous qualities of coolness and
exactitude. But what then? What had he really gained by
all this trouble? What had he brought back from this long
and weary journey?
Nothing, say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming
woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the
happiest of men!
Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour
around the world?
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'I blame no one,' returned Phileas Fogg, with perfect
calmness. 'Go!'
Passepartout left the room, and went to find Aouda, to
whom he delivered his master's message.
'Madam,' he added, 'I can do nothing myself—
nothing! I have no influence over my master; but you,
perhaps—'
'What influence could I have?' replied Aouda. 'Mr.
Fogg is influenced by no one. Has he ever understood that
my gratitude to him is overflowing? Has he ever read my
heart? My friend, he must not be left alone an instant! You
say he is going to speak with me this evening?'
'Yes, madam; probably to arrange for your protection
and comfort in England.'
'We shall see,' replied Aouda, becoming suddenly
pensive.
Throughout this day (Sunday) the house in Saville
Row was as if uninhabited, and Phileas Fogg, for the first
time since he had lived in that house, did not set out for
his club when Westminster clock struck half-past eleven.
Why should he present himself at the Reform? His
friends no longer expected him there. As Phileas Fogg had
not appeared in the saloon on the evening before
(Saturday, the 21st of December, at a quarter before nine),
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Around the World in 80 Days
he had lost his wager. It was not even necessary that he
should go to his bankers for the twenty thousand pounds;
for his antagonists already had his cheque in their hands,
and they had only to fill it out and send it to the Barings
to have the amount transferred to their credit.
Mr. Fogg, therefore, had no reason for going out, and
so he remained at home. He shut himself up in his room,
and busied himself putting his affairs in order. Passepartout
continually ascended and descended the stairs. The hours
were long for him. He listened at his master's door, and
looked through the keyhole, as if he had a perfect right so
to do, and as if he feared that something terrible might
happen at any moment. Sometimes he thought of Fix, but
no longer in anger. Fix, like all the world, had been
mistaken in Phileas Fogg, and had only done his duty in
tracking and arresting him; while he, Passepartout?. This
thought haunted him, and he never ceased cursing his
miserable folly.
Finding himself too wretched to remain alone, he
knocked at Aouda's door, went into her room, seated
himself, without speaking, in a corner, and looked ruefully
at the young woman. Aouda was still pensive.
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Around the World in 80 Days
About half-past seven in the evening Mr. Fogg sent to
know if Aouda would receive him, and in a few moments
he found himself alone with her.
Phileas Fogg took a chair, and sat down near the
fireplace, opposite Aouda. No emotion was visible on his
face. Fogg returned was exactly the Fogg who had gone
away; there was the same calm, the same impassibility.
He sat several minutes without speaking; then, bending
his eyes on Aouda, 'Madam,' said he, 'will you pardon me
for bringing you to England?'
'I, Mr. Fogg!' replied Aouda, checking the pulsations of
her heart.
'Please let me finish,' returned Mr. Fogg. 'When I
decided to bring you far away from the country which
was so unsafe for you, I was rich, and counted on putting
a portion of my fortune at your disposal; then your
existence would have been free and happy. But now I am
ruined.'
'I know it, Mr. Fogg,' replied Aouda; 'and I ask you in
my turn, will you forgive me for having followed you,
and—who knows?—for having, perhaps, delayed you, and
thus contributed to your ruin?'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Madam, you could not remain in India, and your
safety could only be assured by bringing you to such a
distance that your persecutors could not take you.'
'So, Mr. Fogg,' resumed Aouda, 'not content with
rescuing me from a terrible death, you thought yourself
bound to secure my comfort in a foreign land?'
'Yes, madam; but circumstances have been against me.
Still, I beg to place the little I have left at your service.'
'But what will become of you, Mr. Fogg?'
'As for me, madam,' replied the gentleman, coldly, 'I
have need of nothing.'
'But how do you look upon the fate, sir, which awaits
you?'
'As I am in the habit of doing.'
'At least,' said Aouda, 'want should not overtake a man
like you. Your friends—'
'I have no friends, madam.'
'Your relatives—'
'I have no longer any relatives.'
'I pity you, then, Mr. Fogg, for solitude is a sad thing,
with no heart to which to confide your griefs. They say,
though, that misery itself, shared by two sympathetic souls,
may be borne with patience.'
'They say so, madam.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Mr. Fogg,' said Aouda, rising and seizing his hand, 'do
you wish at once a kinswoman and friend? Will you have
me for your wife?'
Mr. Fogg, at this, rose in his turn. There was an
unwonted light in his eyes, and a slight trembling of his
lips. Aouda looked into his face. The sincerity, rectitude,
firmness, and sweetness of this soft glance of a noble
woman, who could dare all to save him to whom she
owed all, at first astonished, then penetrated him. He shut
his eyes for an instant, as if to avoid her look. When he
opened them again, 'I love you!' he said, simply. 'Yes, by
all that is holiest, I love you, and I am entirely yours!'
'Ah!' cried Aouda, pressing his hand to her heart.
Passepartout was summoned and appeared immediately.
Mr. Fogg still held Aouda's hand in his own; Passepartout
understood, and his big, round face became as radiant as
the tropical sun at its zenith.
Mr. Fogg asked him if it was not too late to notify the
Reverend Samuel Wilson, of Marylebone parish, that
evening.
Passepartout smiled his most genial smile, and said,
'Never too late.'
It was five minutes past eight.
'Will it be for to-morrow, Monday?'
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'For to-morrow, Monday,' said Mr. Fogg, turning to
Aouda.
'Yes; for to-morrow, Monday,' she replied.
Passepartout hurried off as fast as his legs could carry
him.
327 of 339
Around the World in 80 Days
Chapter XXXVI
IN WHICH PHILEAS FOGG'S
NAME IS ONCE MORE AT A
PREMIUM ON 'CHANGE
It is time to relate what a change took place in English
public opinion when it transpired that the real bankrobber,
a certain James Strand, had been arrested, on the 17th day
of December, at Edinburgh. Three days before, Phileas
Fogg had been a criminal, who was being desperately
followed up by the police; now he was an honourable
gentleman, mathematically pursuing his eccentric journey
round the world.
The papers resumed their discussion about the wager;
all those who had laid bets, for or against him, revived
their interest, as if by magic; the 'Phileas Fogg bonds'
again became negotiable, and many new wagers were
made. Phileas Fogg's name was once more at a premium
on 'Change.
His five friends of the Reform Club passed these three
days in a state of feverish suspense. Would Phileas Fogg,
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Around the World in 80 Days
whom they had forgotten, reappear before their eyes!
Where was he at this moment? The 17th of December,
the day of James Strand's arrest, was the seventy-sixth
since Phileas Fogg's departure, and no news of him had
been received. Was he dead? Had he abandoned the effort,
or was he continuing his journey along the route agreed
upon? And would he appear on Saturday, the 21st of
December, at a quarter before nine in the evening, on the
threshold of the Reform Club saloon?
The anxiety in which, for three days, London society
existed, cannot be described. Telegrams were sent to
America and Asia for news of Phileas Fogg. Messengers
were dispatched to the house in Saville Row morning and
evening. No news. The police were ignorant what had
become of the detective, Fix, who had so unfortunately
followed up a false scent. Bets increased, nevertheless, in
number and value. Phileas Fogg, like a racehorse, was
drawing near his last turning-point. The bonds were
quoted, no longer at a hundred below par, but at twenty,
at ten, and at five; and paralytic old Lord Albemarle bet
even in his favour.
A great crowd was collected in Pall Mall and the
neighbouring streets on Saturday evening; it seemed like a
multitude of brokers permanently established around the
329 of 339
Around the World in 80 Days
Reform Club. Circulation was impeded, and everywhere
disputes, discussions, and financial transactions were going
on. The police had great difficulty in keeping back the
crowd, and as the hour when Phileas Fogg was due
approached, the excitement rose to its highest pitch.
The five antagonists of Phileas Fogg had met in the
great saloon of the club. John Sullivan and Samuel
Fallentin, the bankers, Andrew Stuart, the engineer,
Gauthier Ralph, the director of the Bank of England, and
Thomas Flanagan, the brewer, one and all waited
anxiously.
When the clock indicated twenty minutes past eight,
Andrew Stuart got up, saying, 'Gentlemen, in twenty
minutes the time agreed upon between Mr. Fogg and
ourselves will have expired.'
'What time did the last train arrive from Liverpool?'
asked Thomas Flanagan.
'At twenty-three minutes past seven,' replied Gauthier
Ralph; 'and the next does not arrive till ten minutes after
twelve.'
'Well, gentlemen,' resumed Andrew Stuart, 'if Phileas
Fogg had come in the 7:23 train, he would have got here
by this time. We can, therefore, regard the bet as won.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Wait; don't let us be too hasty,' replied Samuel
Fallentin. 'You know that Mr. Fogg is very eccentric. His
punctuality is well known; he never arrives too soon, or
too late; and I should not be surprised if he appeared
before us at the last minute.'
'Why,' said Andrew Stuart nervously, 'if I should see
him, I should not believe it was he.'
'The fact is,' resumed Thomas Flanagan, 'Mr. Fogg's
project was absurdly foolish. Whatever his punctuality, he
could not prevent the delays which were certain to occur;
and a delay of only two or three days would be fatal to his
tour.'
'Observe, too,' added John Sullivan, 'that we have
received no intelligence from him, though there are
telegraphic lines all along is route.'
'He has lost, gentleman,' said Andrew Stuart, 'he has a
hundred times lost! You know, besides, that the China the
only steamer he could have taken from New York to get
here in time arrived yesterday. I have seen a list of the
passengers, and the name of Phileas Fogg is not among
them. Even if we admit that fortune has favoured him, he
can scarcely have reached America. I think he will be at
least twenty days behind-hand, and that Lord Albemarle
will lose a cool five thousand.'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'It is clear,' replied Gauthier Ralph; 'and we have
nothing to do but to present Mr. Fogg's cheque at Barings
to-morrow.'
At this moment, the hands of the club clock pointed to
twenty minutes to nine.
'Five minutes more,' said Andrew Stuart.
The five gentlemen looked at each other. Their anxiety
was becoming intense; but, not wishing to betray it, they
readily assented to Mr. Fallentin's proposal of a rubber.
'I wouldn't give up my four thousand of the bet,' said
Andrew Stuart, as he took his seat, 'for three thousand
nine hundred and ninety-nine.'
The clock indicated eighteen minutes to nine.
The players took up their cards, but could not keep
their eyes off the clock. Certainly, however secure they
felt, minutes had never seemed so long to them!
'Seventeen minutes to nine,' said Thomas Flanagan, as
he cut the cards which Ralph handed to him.
Then there was a moment of silence. The great saloon
was perfectly quiet; but the murmurs of the crowd outside
were heard, with now and then a shrill cry. The
pendulum beat the seconds, which each player eagerly
counted, as he listened, with mathematical regularity.
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Sixteen minutes to nine!' said John Sullivan, in a voice
which betrayed his emotion.
One minute more, and the wager would be won.
Andrew Stuart and his partners suspended their game.
They left their cards, and counted the seconds.
At the fortieth second, nothing. At the fiftieth, still
nothing.
At the fifty-fifth, a loud cry was heard in the street,
followed by applause, hurrahs, and some fierce growls.
The players rose from their seats.
At the fifty-seventh second the door of the saloon
opened; and the pendulum had not beat the sixtieth
second when Phileas Fogg appeared, followed by an
excited crowd who had forced their way through the club
doors, and in his calm voice, said, 'Here I am, gentlemen!'
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Around the World in 80 Days
Chapter XXXVII
IN WHICH IT IS SHOWN
THAT PHILEAS FOGG GAINED
NOTHING BY HIS TOUR
AROUND THE WORLD,
UNLESS IT WERE HAPPINESS
Yes; Phileas Fogg in person.
The reader will remember that at five minutes past
eight in the evening— about five and twenty hours after
the arrival of the travellers in London— Passepartout had
been sent by his master to engage the services of the
Reverend Samuel Wilson in a certain marriage ceremony,
which was to take place the next day.
Passepartout went on his errand enchanted. He soon
reached the clergyman's house, but found him not at
home. Passepartout waited a good twenty minutes, and
when he left the reverend gentleman, it was thirty-five
minutes past eight. But in what a state he was! With his
hair in disorder, and without his hat, he ran along the
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Around the World in 80 Days
street as never man was seen to run before, overturning
passers-by, rushing over the sidewalk like a waterspout.
In three minutes he was in Saville Row again, and
staggered back into Mr. Fogg's room.
He could not speak.
'What is the matter?' asked Mr. Fogg.
'My master!' gasped Passepartout—'marriage—
impossible—'
'Impossible?'
'Impossible—for to-morrow.'
'Why so?'
'Because to-morrow—is Sunday!'
'Monday,' replied Mr. Fogg.
'No—to-day is Saturday.'
'Saturday? Impossible!'
'Yes, yes, yes, yes!' cried Passepartout. 'You have made
a mistake of one day! We arrived twenty-four hours ahead
of time; but there are only ten minutes left!'
Passepartout had seized his master by the collar, and
was dragging him along with irresistible force.
Phileas Fogg, thus kidnapped, without having time to
think, left his house, jumped into a cab, promised a
hundred pounds to the cabman, and, having run over two
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Around the World in 80 Days
dogs and overturned five carriages, reached the Reform
Club.
The clock indicated a quarter before nine when he
appeared in the great saloon.
Phileas Fogg had accomplished the journey round the
world in eighty days!
Phileas Fogg had won his wager of twenty thousand
pounds!
How was it that a man so exact and fastidious could
have made this error of a day? How came he to think that
he had arrived in London on Saturday, the twenty-first
day of December, when it was really Friday, the
twentieth, the seventy-ninth day only from his departure?
The cause of the error is very simple.
Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day
on his journey, and this merely because he had travelled
constantly eastward; he would, on the contrary, have lost a
day had he gone in the opposite direction, that is,
westward.
In journeying eastward he had gone towards the sun,
and the days therefore diminished for him as many times
four minutes as he crossed degrees in this direction. There
are three hundred and sixty degrees on the circumference
of the earth; and these three hundred and sixty degrees,
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Around the World in 80 Days
multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-four
hours—that is, the day unconsciously gained. In other
words, while Phileas Fogg, going eastward, saw the sun
pass the meridian eighty times, his friends in London only
saw it pass the meridian seventy-nine times. This is why
they awaited him at the Reform Club on Saturday, and
not Sunday, as Mr. Fogg thought.
And Passepartout's famous family watch, which had
always kept London time, would have betrayed this fact, if
it had marked the days as well as the hours and the
minutes!
Phileas Fogg, then, had won the twenty thousand
pounds; but, as he had spent nearly nineteen thousand on
the way, the pecuniary gain was small. His object was,
however, to be victorious, and not to win money. He
divided the one thousand pounds that remained between
Passepartout and the unfortunate Fix, against whom he
cherished no grudge. He deducted, however, from
Passepartout's share the cost of the gas which had burned
in his room for nineteen hundred and twenty hours, for
the sake of regularity.
That evening, Mr. Fogg, as tranquil and phlegmatic as
ever, said to Aouda: 'Is our marriage still agreeable to
you?'
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Around the World in 80 Days
'Mr. Fogg,' replied she, 'it is for me to ask that
question. You were ruined, but now you are rich again.'
'Pardon me, madam; my fortune belongs to you. If you
had not suggested our marriage, my servant would not
have gone to the Reverend Samuel Wilson's, I should not
have been apprised of my error, and—'
'Dear Mr. Fogg!' said the young woman.
'Dear Aouda!' replied Phileas Fogg.
It need not be said that the marriage took place forty-
eight hours after, and that Passepartout, glowing and
dazzling, gave the bride away. Had he not saved her, and
was he not entitled to this honour?
The next day, as soon as it was light, Passepartout
rapped vigorously at his master's door. Mr. Fogg opened
it, and asked, 'What's the matter, Passepartout?'
'What is it, sir? Why, I've just this instant found out—'
'What?'
'That we might have made the tour of the world in
only seventy-eight days.'
'No doubt,' returned Mr. Fogg, 'by not crossing India.
But if I had not crossed India, I should not have saved
Aouda; she would not have been my wife, and—'
Mr. Fogg quietly shut the door.
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Around the World in 80 Days
Phileas Fogg had won his wager, and had made his
journey around the world in eighty days. To do this he
had employed every means of conveyance—steamers,
railways, carriages, yachts, trading-vessels, sledges,
elephants. The eccentric gentleman had throughout
displayed all his marvellous qualities of coolness and
exactitude. But what then? What had he really gained by
all this trouble? What had he brought back from this long
and weary journey?
Nothing, say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming
woman, who, strange as it may appear, made him the
happiest of men!
Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour
around the world?
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