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 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 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, 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?"
"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.
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?
End
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