Page 249 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 249
Around the World in 80 Days
Trains, like time and tide, stop for no one. The
gentleman who uttered the cries was evidently a belated
Mormon. He was breathless with running. Happily for
him, the station had neither gates nor barriers. He rushed
along the track, jumped on the rear platform of the train,
and fell, exhausted, into one of the seats.
Passepartout, who had been anxiously watching this
amateur gymnast, approached him with lively interest, and
learned that he had taken flight after an unpleasant
domestic scene.
When the Mormon had recovered his breath,
Passepartout ventured to ask him politely how many wives
he had; for, from the manner in which he had decamped,
it might be thought that he had twenty at least.
‘One, sir,’ replied the Mormon, raising his arms
heavenward —‘one, and that was enough!’
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