Page 316 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

the latter had been warned, he would no doubt have given
Fix proof of his innocence, and satisfied him of his
mistake; at least, Fix would not have continued his
journey at the expense and on the heels of his master, only

to arrest him the moment he set foot on English soil.
Passepartout wept till he was blind, and felt like blowing
his brains out.
Aouda and he had remained, despite the cold, under
the portico of the Custom House. Neither wished to leave
the place; both were anxious to see Mr. Fogg again.
That gentleman was really ruined, and that at the
moment when he was about to attain his end. This arrest
was fatal. Having arrived at Liverpool at twenty minutes
before twelve on the 21st of December, he had till a
quarter before nine that evening to reach the Reform
Club, that is, nine hours and a quarter; the journey from
Liverpool to London was six hours.
If anyone, at this moment, had entered the Custom
House, he would have found Mr. Fogg seated, motionless,
calm, and without apparent anger, upon a wooden bench.
He was not, it is true, resigned; but this last blow failed to
force him into an outward betrayal of any emotion. Was
he being devoured by one of those secret rages, all the
more terrible because contained, and which only burst

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