Page 37 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
P. 37
Around the World in 80 Days
issued, and made their appearance on ‘Change; ‘Phileas
Fogg bonds’ were offered at par or at a premium, and a
great business was done in them. But five days after the
article in the bulletin of the Geographical Society
appeared, the demand began to subside: ‘Phileas Fogg’
declined. They were offered by packages, at first of five,
then of ten, until at last nobody would take less than
twenty, fifty, a hundred!
Lord Albemarle, an elderly paralytic gentleman, was
now the only advocate of Phileas Fogg left. This noble
lord, who was fastened to his chair, would have given his
fortune to be able to make the tour of the world, if it took
ten years; and he bet five thousand pounds on Phileas
Fogg. When the folly as well as the uselessness of the
adventure was pointed out to him, he contented himself
with replying, ‘If the thing is feasible, the first to do it
ought to be an Englishman.’
The Fogg party dwindled more and more, everybody
was going against him, and the bets stood a hundred and
fifty and two hundred to one; and a week after his
departure an incident occurred which deprived him of
backers at any price.
36 of 339
