Page 131 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

with coldness, neither his voice nor his manner betraying
the slightest emotion; but he seemed to be always on the
watch that nothing should be wanting to Aouda’s comfort.
He visited her regularly each day at certain hours, not so

much to talk himself, as to sit and hear her talk. He treated
her with the strictest politeness, but with the precision of
an automaton, the movements of which had been
arranged for this purpose. Aouda did not quite know what
to make of him, though Passepartout had given her some
hints of his master’s eccentricity, and made her smile by
telling her of the wager which was sending him round the
world. After all, she owed Phileas Fogg her life, and she
always regarded him through the exalting medium of her
gratitude.
Aouda confirmed the Parsee guide’s narrative of her
touching history. She did, indeed, belong to the highest of
the native races of India. Many of the Parsee merchants
have made great fortunes there by dealing in cotton; and
one of them, Sir Jametsee Jeejeebhoy, was made a baronet
by the English government. Aouda was a relative of this
great man, and it was his cousin, Jeejeeh, whom she hoped
to join at Hong Kong. Whether she would find a
protector in him she could not tell; but Mr. Fogg essayed
to calm her anxieties, and to assure her that everything

130 of 339