by Verne, Jules, 1828-1905
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A young man of thirty advanced and bowed.
" You are a Frenchman, I believe," asked Phileas Fogg, "and your name is John .^"
" Jean, if monsieur pleases," replied the new-comer, " Jean Passepartout, a surname which has clung to me because I have a natural aptness for going out of one business into another. I believe Pm honest, monsieur, but, to be outspoken, I've had several trades. Pve 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 make better use of my talents ; and then I was a sergeant fireman at Paris, and assisted at many a big fire. But I quitted France five years ago, and, wishing to taste the sweets of domestic life, took service as a valet here in England. Finding myself out of place, and hearing that Monsieur Phileas Fogg was the most exact and settled gentleman in the United Kingdom, I have come to monsieur in the hope of living with him a tranquil life, and forgetting even the name of Passepartout."
JEAN PASSEPARTOrT.
[Page 6.
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS. /
" Passepartout suits me," responded Mr. Fogg. " You are well recommended to me ; I hear a good report of you. You know my conditions .''"
*'Yes, monsieur."
''Good. What time is it .^"
" Twenty-two minutes after eleven," returned Passepartout, drawing an enormous silver watch from the depths of his pocket.
''You are too slow," said Mr. Fogg.
" Pardon me, monsieur, it is impossible?"
" You are four minutes too slow. No matter ; it's enough to mention the error. Now from this moment, twenty-nine minutes after eleven, a.m., this Wednesday, October 2nd^ you are in my service."
Phileas Fogg got up, took his hat in his left hand, put it on his head with an automatic motion, and went off without a word.
Passepartout heard the street door shut once ; it was his new master going out. He heard it shut again ; it was his predecessor, James Forster, departing in his turn. Passepartout remained alone in the house in Saville Row.
AROUND THE WORLD IN EIGHTY DAYS.
CHAPTER II.
IN \YHICH PASSEPARTOUT IS CONVINCED THAT HE HAS AT LAST FOUND HIS IDEAL.
" Faith," muttered Passepartout, somewhat flurried, " I've seen people at Madame Tussaud's as lively as my new master !"
Madame Tussaud's " people," let it be said, are of wax, and are much visited in London; speech is all that is wanting to make them human.
During his brief interview with Mr. Fogg, Passepartout had been carefully observing him. He appeared to be a man about forty years of age, with fine, handsome features, and a tall, well-shaped figure ; his hair and whiskers wxre light, his forehead compact and unwrinkled, his face rather pale, his teeth magnificent. His countenance possessed in the highest degree what physiognomists call ** repose in action," a quality of those who act rather than talk. Calm and phlegmatic, with a clear eye, Mr. Fogg seemed a perfect type of that English composure Av'hich Angelica
Kauffmann has so skilfully represented on canvas. Seen in the various phases of his daily life, he gave the idea of being perfectly well-balanced, as exactly regulated as a Leroy chronometer. Phileas Fogg was, indeed, exactitude personified, and this was betrayed even in the expression of his very hands and feet; for in men, as well as in animals, the limbs themselves are expressive of the passions.
He was so exact that he was never in a hurry, was always ready, and was economical alike of his steps and his motions. He never took one step too many, and always went to his destination by the shortest cut; he made no superfluous gestures, and was never seen to be moved or agitated. He was the most deliberate person in the world, yet always reached his destination at the exact moment.
He lived alone, and so to speak, outside of every social relation ; and as he knew that in this world account must be taken of friction, and that friction retards, he never rubbed against anybody.
