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02 - Around The World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne · Daily Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter two, in which Passepartout is convinced that he has
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  Speaker 1: at last found his ideal faith. Muttered, Passepartout somewhat flurried,
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  Speaker 1: I've seen people at Madame Tussord's as lively as my
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  Speaker 1: new master. Madame Tussaud's people, let it be said, are
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  Speaker 1: of wax and are much visited in London. Speech is
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  Speaker 1: all that is, wanting to make them human. During his
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  Speaker 1: brief interview with mister Fogg, Passepartout had been carefully observing him.
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  Speaker 1: He appeared to be a man about forty years of age,
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  Speaker 1: with fine, handsome features and a tall, well shaped figure.
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  Speaker 1: His hair and whiskers were light, his forehead compact and unwrinkled,
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  Speaker 1: his face rather pale, his teeth magnificent, His countenance possessed
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  Speaker 1: in the highest degree what physiognomists call repose inaction, a
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  Speaker 1: quality of those who act rather than talk. Calm and phlegmatic,
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  Speaker 1: with a clear eye, mister Fogg seemed a perfect type
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  Speaker 1: of that English composer which Angelica Kaufman has so skillfully
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  Speaker 1: represented on canvas. Seeing in the various phases of his
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  Speaker 1: daily life, he gave the idea of being perfectly well
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  Speaker 1: balanced as exactly regulated as a Leroy chronometer. Phileas Fogg
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  Speaker 1: was indeed exactitude personified, and this was betrayed even in
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  Speaker 1: the expression of his very hands and feet, for in
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  Speaker 1: men as well as in animals, the limbs themselves are
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  Speaker 1: expressive of the passions. He was so exact that he
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  Speaker 1: was never in a hurry, was always ready, and was
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  Speaker 1: economical alike of his steps and his motions. He never
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  Speaker 1: took one step too many, and always went to his
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  Speaker 1: destination by the shortest cut. He made no superfluous gestures,
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  Speaker 1: and was never seen to be moved or agitated. He
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  Speaker 1: was the most deliberate person in the world, yet always
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  Speaker 1: reached his destination at the exact moment. He lived alone,
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  Speaker 1: and so to speak, outside of every social relation, and
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  Speaker 1: as he knew that in this world account must be
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  Speaker 1: taken of friction, and that friction retards, he never rubbed
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  Speaker 1: against anybody. As for pass Partout, he was a true
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  Speaker 1: Parisian of Paris. Since he had abandoned his own country
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  Speaker 1: for England, taking service as a valet, he had in
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  Speaker 1: vain searched for a master after his own heart. Pass
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  Speaker 1: Partout was by no means one of those pert dunces
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  Speaker 1: depicted by Moliere, with a bold gaze and a nose
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  Speaker 1: held high in the air. He was an honest fellow,
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  Speaker 1: with a pleasant face, lips a trifle protruding, soft mannered
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  Speaker 1: and serviceable, with a good round head, such as one
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  Speaker 1: likes to see on the shoulders of a friend. His
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  Speaker 1: eyes were blue, his complexion rubicund, his figure almost portly
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  Speaker 1: and well built, his body muscular, and his physical powers
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  Speaker 1: fully developed by the exercises of his younger days. His
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  Speaker 1: brown hair was somewhat tumbled. For while the ancient sculptors
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  Speaker 1: are said to have known eighteen methods of arranging minervous stresses,
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  Speaker 1: Passepartout was familiar with, but one of dressing his own.
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  Speaker 1: Three strokes of a large toothcomb completed his toilette. It
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  Speaker 1: would be rash to predict how Passepartout's lively nature would
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  Speaker 1: agree with mister Fogg. It was impossible to tell whether
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  Speaker 1: the new servant would turn out as absolutely methodical as
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  Speaker 1: his master required. Experience alone could solve the question. Pass
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  Speaker 1: Partiu had been a sort of vagrant in his early years,
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  Speaker 1: and now yearned for repose, but so far he had
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  Speaker 1: failed to find it. Though he had already served in
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  Speaker 1: ten English houses, but he could not take root in
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  Speaker 1: any of these. With chagrin, he found his master's invariably
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  Speaker 1: whimsical and irregular, constantly running about the country or on
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  Speaker 1: the lookout for adventure. His last master, young Lord Longferry,
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  Speaker 1: member of Parliament, after passing his knights in the haymarket taverns,
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  Speaker 1: was too often brought home in the morning on policemen's shoulders. Passepartout,
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  Speaker 1: desirous of respecting the gentleman whom he served, ventured a
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  Speaker 1: mild remonstrance on such conduct, which, being ill received, he
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  Speaker 1: took his leave. Hearing that mister Phileas Fogg was looking
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  Speaker 1: for a servant, and that his life was one of
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  Speaker 1: unbroken regularity, that he neither traveled nor stayed from home
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  Speaker 1: over night, he felt sure that this would be the
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  Speaker 1: place he was. After he presented himself and was accepted,
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  Speaker 1: as has been seen. At half past eleven, then Passepartout
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  Speaker 1: found himself alone in the house in Savile Row. He
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  Speaker 1: begun its inspection without delay, scouring it from cellar to garret.
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  Speaker 1: So clean, well arranged, solemn a mansion pleased him. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed to him like a snail's shell, lighted and warmed
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  Speaker 1: by gas, which suffice for both these purposes. When Passepartout
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  Speaker 1: reached the second story, he recognized at once the room
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  Speaker 1: which he was to inhabit, and he was well satisfied
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  Speaker 1: with it. Electric bells and speaking tubes afforded communication with
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  Speaker 1: the lower stories, while on the mantel stood an electric
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  Speaker 1: clock precisely like that in mister Fogg's ben chamber, both
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  Speaker 1: beating the same second at the same instant. That's good,
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  Speaker 1: that'll do, said Passepartoud to himself. He suddenly observed, hung
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  Speaker 1: over the clock a card, which, upon inspection, proved to
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  Speaker 1: be a program of the daily routine of the house.
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  Speaker 1: It comprised all that was required of the servant from
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  Speaker 1: eight in the morning, exactly at which our Phileas Fogg rose,
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  Speaker 1: till half past eleven, when he left the house for
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  Speaker 1: the Reform Club. All the details of service the tea
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  Speaker 1: and toast at twenty three minutes past eight, the shaving
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  Speaker 1: water at thirty seven minutes past nine, and the toilet
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  Speaker 1: at twenty minutes before ten. Everything was regulated and foreseen
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  Speaker 1: that was to be done from half past eleven a m.
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  Speaker 1: Till midnight. The hour at which the methodical gentleman retired.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Fogg's wardrobe was amply supplied and in the best taste.
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  Speaker 1: Each pair of trousers, coat and vest bore a number
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  Speaker 1: indicating the time of year and season at which they
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  Speaker 1: were in turn to be laid out for wearing, and
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  Speaker 1: the same system was applied to the master's shoes. In short,
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  Speaker 1: the house in Sava, which must have been a very
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  Speaker 1: temple of disorder and unrest under the illustrious but dissipated Sheridan,
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  Speaker 1: was coziness, comfort, and method idealized. There was no study,
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  Speaker 1: nor were there books, which would have been quite useless
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  Speaker 1: to mister Fogg. For at the reform two libraries, one
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  Speaker 1: of general literature and the other of law and politics,
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  Speaker 1: were at his service. A moderate sized safe stood in
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  Speaker 1: his bedroom, constructed so as to defy fire as well
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  Speaker 1: as burglars. But passepartout found neither arms nor hunting weapons anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Everything betrayed the most tranquil and peaceable habits. Having scrutinized
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  Speaker 1: the house from top to bottom, he rubbed his hands.
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  Speaker 1: A broad smile overspread his features, and he said, joyfully,
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  Speaker 1: this is just what I wanted. Ah We shall get
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  Speaker 1: on together. Mister Fogg, and I what stick and regular gentleman,
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  Speaker 1: A real machine? Well, I don't mind serving a machine.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter