Page 115 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

Phileas Fogg had not hesitated to risk his life to save her,
and recounting the happy sequel of the venture, the result
of Passepartout’s rash idea. Mr. Fogg said nothing; while
Passepartout, abashed, kept repeating that ‘it wasn’t worth

telling.’
Aouda pathetically thanked her deliverers, rather with
tears than words; her fine eyes interpreted her gratitude
better than her lips. Then, as her thoughts strayed back to
the scene of the sacrifice, and recalled the dangers which
still menaced her, she shuddered with terror.
Phileas Fogg understood what was passing in Aouda’s
mind, and offered, in order to reassure her, to escort her
to Hong Kong, where she might remain safely until the
affair was hushed up—an offer which she eagerly and
gratefully accepted. She had, it seems, a Parsee relation,
who was one of the principal merchants of Hong Kong,
which is wholly an English city, though on an island on
the Chinese coast.
At half-past twelve the train stopped at Benares. The
Brahmin legends assert that this city is built on the site of
the ancient Casi, which, like Mahomet’s tomb, was once
suspended between heaven and earth; though the Benares
of to-day, which the Orientalists call the Athens of India,
stands quite unpoetically on the solid earth, Passepartout

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