Part 1 (1/2)

Around the World in 80 Days

by Jules Verne

Chapter 1

In Which Phileas Fogg and Passepartout Accept Each Other, the One as Master, the Other as Man

Mr Phileas Fogg lived, in 1872, at No7, Saville Row, Burlington Gardens He was one of the h he see was a puzzling gentleman, about whom little was known, except that he was a polished man of the world People said that he resembled the poet Byron--at least that his head was Byronic; but he was a bearded, peaceful Byron, whoold

Certainly Phileas Fogg was an Englishman, but it was more doubtful whether he was a Londoner He was never seen on 'Change, nor at the Bank, nor in the counting-rooms of the ”City”; no shi+ps ever came into London docks of which he was the owner; he had no public employment; he had never been entered at any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple, or Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's Inn Nor had he ever pleaded in the Court of Chancery, or in the Exchequer, or the Queen's Bench, or the Ecclesiastical Courts He certainly was not a entlee to the scientific and learned societies, and he never was known to take part in the sage deliberations of the Royal Institution or the London Institution, the Artisan's association, or the Institution of Arts and Sciences He belonged, in fact, to none of the nulish capital

Phileas Fogg was a ot adh

He was recos, hoht from his account current, which was always flush

Was Phileas Fogg rich? Undoubtedly But those who knew hiine how he hadwas the last person to whoo for the information He was not lavish, nor, on the contrary, avaricious; for, whenever he knew that money was needed for a noble, useful, or benevolent purpose, he supplied it quietly and sometimes anonymously He was, in short, the least communicative of men He talked very little, and seemed all the more mysterious for his taciturn manner His daily habits were quite open to observation; but whatever he did was so exactly the sa that he had always done before, that the wits of the curious were fairly puzzled

Had he traveled? It was likely, for no one seemed to know the world more familiarly There was no spot so secluded that he did not appear to have an intimate acquaintance with it He often corrected, with a few clear words, the thousand conjectures advanced by members of the club as to lost and unheard-of travelers, pointing out the true probabilities, and seeht, so often did events justify his predictions He must have traveled everywhere, at least in the spirit

It was at least certain that Phileas Fogg had not been away from London for many years Those ere honored by a better acquaintance with him than the rest, declared that nobody could pretend to have ever seen hi the papers and playing whist He often won at this game, which, as a quiet one, hars never went into his purse, being reserved as a fund for his charities Mr Fogg played, not to win, but for the sake of playing The gale with a difficulty, yet a enial to his tastes

Phileas Fogg was not known to have either wife or children, which may happen to the most honest people; neither relatives nor near friends, which is certainly more unusual He lived alone in his house in Saville Rohere none ever entered A single servant sufficed to serve him He breakfasted and dined at the club, at hours mathematically fixed, in the sa his uest with hiht, only to retire at once to bed He never used the cosy chambers which the Reform provides for its favored members He passed ten hours out of the twenty-four in Saville Row, either in sleeping orhis toilet When he chose to take a walk it ith a regular step in the entrance hall with its allery with its dome supported by twenty red Ionic columns, and illumined by blue painted s When he breakfasted or dined all the resources of the club--its kitchens and pantries, its buttery and dairy--aided to crowd his table with their ravest waiters, in dress coats, and shoes with swan-skin soles, who presented the viands in special porcelain, and on the finest linen Club decanters, of a lost mould, contained his sherry, his port, and his cinnaly cooled with ice, brought at great cost from the American lakes

If to live in this style is to be eccentric, it ood in eccentricity

The ly comfortable The habits of its occupant were such as to de required hiular On this very 2nd of October he had disht hirees Fahrenheit instead of eighty-six; and he aiting his successor, as due at the house between eleven and half-past eleven

Phileas Fogg was seated squarely in his arrenadier on parade, his hands resting on his knees, his body straight, his head erect He was steadily watching a complicated clock which indicated the hours, the minutes, the seconds, the days, thewould, according to his daily habit, quit Saville Row, and go to the Reform

A rap at this moment sounded on the door of the cosy apart was seated, and James Forster, the dismissed servant, appeared

”The new servant,” said he

A young man of thirty advanced and bowed

”You are a French, ”and your name is John?”

”Jean, if monsieur pleases,” replied the newco toout of one business into another I believe I'm honest, monsieur, but, to be outspoken, I've had several trades I've been an itinerant singer, a circus-rider, when I used to vault like Leotard, and dance on a rope like Blondin Then I got to be a professor of gymnastics, so as to eant fire fire But I left France five years ago, and, wishi+ng to taste the sweets of dowas the do with hi even the name of Passepartout”