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Read book online ยซAround the World in Eighty Days by Jules Verne (room on the broom read aloud TXT) ๐Ÿ“•ยป.   Author   -   Jules Verne



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minutes to one, and directed his steps towards the large hall, a sumptuous apartment adorned with lavishly-framed paintings. A flunkey handed him an uncut Times, which he proceeded to cut with a skill which betrayed familiarity with this delicate operation. The perusal of this paper absorbed Phileas Fogg until a quarter before four, whilst the Standard, his next task, occupied him till the dinner hour. Dinner passed as breakfast had done, and Mr. Fogg reappeared in the reading-room and sat down to the Pall Mall at twenty minutes before six. Half an hour later several members of the Reform came in and drew up to the fireplace, where a coal fire was steadily burning. They were Mr. Foggโ€™s usual partners at whist: Andrew Stuart, an engineer; John Sullivan and Samuel Fallentin, bankers; Thomas Flanagan, a brewer; and Gauthier Ralph, one of the Directors of the Bank of Englandโ โ€”all rich and highly respectable personages, even in a club which comprises the princes of English trade and finance.

โ€œWell, Ralph,โ€ said Thomas Flanagan, โ€œwhat about that robbery?โ€

โ€œOh,โ€ replied Stuart, โ€œthe Bank will lose the money.โ€

โ€œOn the contrary,โ€ broke in Ralph, โ€œI hope we may put our hands on the robber. Skilful detectives have been sent to all the principal ports of America and the Continent, and heโ€™ll be a clever fellow if he slips through their fingers.โ€

โ€œBut have you got the robberโ€™s description?โ€ asked Stuart.

โ€œIn the first place, he is no robber at all,โ€ returned Ralph, positively.

โ€œWhat! a fellow who makes off with fifty-five thousand pounds, no robber?โ€

โ€œNo.โ€

โ€œPerhaps heโ€™s a manufacturer, then.โ€

โ€œThe Daily Telegraph says that he is a gentleman.โ€

It was Phileas Fogg, whose head now emerged from behind his newspapers, who made this remark. He bowed to his friends, and entered into the conversation. The affair which formed its subject, and which was town talk, had occurred three days before at the Bank of England. A package of banknotes, to the value of fifty-five thousand pounds, had been taken from the principal cashierโ€™s table, that functionary being at the moment engaged in registering the receipt of three shillings and sixpence. Of course, he could not have his eyes everywhere. Let it be observed that the Bank of England reposes a touching confidence in the honesty of the public. There are neither guards nor gratings to protect its treasures; gold, silver, banknotes are freely exposed, at the mercy of the first comer. A keen observer of English customs relates that, being in one of the rooms of the Bank one day, he had the curiosity to examine a gold ingot weighing some seven or eight pounds. He took it up, scrutinised it, passed it to his neighbour, he to the next man, and so on until the ingot, going from hand to hand, was transferred to the end of a dark entry; nor did it return to its place for half an hour. Meanwhile, the cashier had not so much as raised his head. But in the present instance things had not gone so smoothly. The package of notes not being found when five oโ€™clock sounded from the ponderous clock in the โ€œdrawing office,โ€ the amount was passed to the account of profit and loss. As soon as the robbery was discovered, picked detectives hastened off to Liverpool, Glasgow, Havre, Suez, Brindisi, New York, and other ports, inspired by the proffered reward of two thousand pounds, and five percent on the sum that might be recovered. Detectives were also charged with narrowly watching those who arrived at or left London by rail, and a judicial examination was at once entered upon.

There were real grounds for supposing, as the Daily Telegraph said, that the thief did not belong to a professional band. On the day of the robbery a well-dressed gentleman of polished manners, and with a well-to-do air, had been observed going to and fro in the paying room where the crime was committed. A description of him was easily procured and sent to the detectives; and some hopeful spirits, of whom Ralph was one, did not despair of his apprehension. The papers and clubs were full of the affair, and everywhere people were discussing the probabilities of a successful pursuit; and the Reform Club was especially agitated, several of its members being Bank officials.

Ralph would not concede that the work of the detectives was likely to be in vain, for he thought that the prize offered would greatly stimulate their zeal and activity. But Stuart was far from sharing this confidence; and, as they placed themselves at the whist-table, they continued to argue the matter. Stuart and Flanagan played together, while Phileas Fogg had Fallentin for his partner. As the game proceeded the conversation ceased, excepting between the rubbers, when it revived again.

โ€œI maintain,โ€ said Stuart, โ€œthat the chances are in favour of the thief, who must be a shrewd fellow.โ€

โ€œWell, but where can he fly to?โ€ asked Ralph. โ€œNo country is safe for him.โ€

โ€œPshaw!โ€

โ€œWhere could he go, then?โ€

โ€œOh, I donโ€™t know that. The world is big enough.โ€

โ€œIt was once,โ€ said Phileas Fogg, in a low tone. โ€œCut, sir,โ€ he added, handing the cards to Thomas Flanagan.

The discussion fell during the rubber, after which Stuart took up its thread.

โ€œWhat do you mean by โ€˜onceโ€™? Has the world grown smaller?โ€

โ€œCertainly,โ€ returned Ralph. โ€œI agree with Mr. Fogg. The world has grown smaller, since a man can now go round it ten times more quickly than a hundred years ago. And that is why the search for this thief will be more likely to succeed.โ€

โ€œAnd also why the thief can get away more easily.โ€

โ€œBe so good as to play, Mr. Stuart,โ€ said Phileas Fogg.

But the incredulous Stuart was not convinced, and when the hand was finished, said eagerly: โ€œYou have a strange way, Ralph, of proving that the world has grown smaller. So, because you can go round it in three monthsโ โ€”โ€

โ€œIn eighty days,โ€ interrupted Phileas Fogg.

โ€œThat is true, gentlemen,โ€ added John Sullivan. โ€œOnly eighty days, now that the section between Rothal and Allahabad, on the

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