Chapter 12
Phileas Fogg was in prison! Passepartout would have strangled Fix had not some policemen held him back. He also might have blown his own brains out had his revolver been handy.
“Why didn’t I tell my master what Fix was really up to?” he cried, blaming himself for the terrible mess. He had cost Phileas Fogg 20,000 pounds!
Fogg himself sat quietly in the jailhouse. As usual, he displayed no emotion. He still had almost nine hours to reach London, and the journey took only six. He laid his watch on the table and watched its hands move ever closer to the fateful hour of 8:45.
If he thought of escaping, he soon gave up the idea. The door was locked and the window heavily barred. After walking around the room, he sat down and took his diary out of his pocket. On the page for December 21, he wrote, ”Liverpool, 80th day, 11:40 a.m.”
The clock in the jail house struck 1:00. Fogg noticed that his watch was two hours fast.
At 2:33, Passepartout, Aouda and Detective Fix rushed into the room. Fix was out of breath, and his clothes and hair were in disarray.
“Sir,” he stammered, “sir—forgive me! The bank robber was arrested three days ago! You just looked a lot like him. Now you are free!”
Phileas Fogg walked up to Fix and, with a powerful blow of his arms, knocked him flat on the floor. Fogg, Aouda and Passepartout then left the jailhouse, called a taxi, and sped towards the railroad station.
It was 2:40. The express train for London had left 35 minutes ago. Phileas Fogg ordered a special train, but it was not ready until 3:00. At that hour, Mr. Fogg, having offered the engineer a generous reward for getting him to London quickly, boarded the train with Aouda and his faithful servant.
If the tracks had been clear, they could have made the trip in five and a half hours. There were delays, however, and it was 8:50 when the train reached London.
Phileas Fogg was five minutes too late. The wager was lost.
Phileas Fogg took his bad luck in stride, but he couldn’t help thinking how he had been ruined by a stupid detective after travelling around the globe, overcoming problems large and small, and braving many dangers. All that remained of the roll of banknotes he had set out with were a few pounds. The rest of his fortune—20,000 pounds—was at the bank, ready to be transferred to the gentlemen at the Reform Club. Fogg’s trip cost so much money that even winning the bet would not have made him rich.
Aouda was given a room in Mr. Fogg’s large house. When Passepartout reached his own room, he turned off the gas, which had been burning for 80 days. The bill from the gas company awaited him in his mailbox.
Phileas Fogg went to bed at midnight as usual, but no one knew whether he slept. The next day, for the first time in memory, he failed to leave home for the Reform Club at 11:30. In fact, he spent the entire day alone in his room. Finally, at 7:30, he went downstairs for a talk with Aouda.
“Please forgive me for bringing you to England,” he began, “When I took you away from India, I was rich and thought that I could put some of my wealth at your disposal. Then you would have been free and happy. Now I am ruined.”
“It is I who should beg forgiveness, Mr. Fogg. Saving my life delayed you and thus helped to cause you ruin.”
“But madam! You would have been killed if you had stayed in India! I had to bring you to a safe place. I still hope to put what little money I have left at your disposal.”
“But what will become of you, sir?”
“I don’t need anything, madam.”
“Maybe your friends could help you out.”
“I have no friends.”
“Your relatives?”
“I no longer have any relatives.”
“That really is a pity, for you have no one to confide your sorrows to.” Suddenly, Aouda took Phileas Fogg’s hand, “Do you want both a friend and a relative? Will you have me as your wife?”
Phileas Fogg’s lips trembled, and his eyes were bright. “I love you,” he said simply.
Fogg asked Passepartout to contact the Reverend Samuel Wilson at once.
“When do you wish to get married, sir?”
“Tomorrow, Monday,” replied his master.
Passepartout hurried to the Reverend’s house. It was already past 8:00.
While Phileas Fogg was completing his trip around the world, English newspaper readers learnt that the real bank robber, James Strand, had been arrested on December 17. Suddenly Fogg, who had been wanted by the police, was an honourable gentleman once again.
A large crowd gathered around the Reform Club on Saturday evening, December 21. As the fateful hour of 8:45 neared, excitement and suspense rose to fever pitch.
At 8:20, the gentlemen with whom Fogg had made the wager gathered in the saloon.
“What time did the last train arrive from Liverpool?” asked Thomas Flanagan.
“At 7:23,” replied Gautier Ralph, “The next train doesn’t come until 12:10.”
“If he had come on the 7:23 train, he would be here by now,” said Andrew Stuart.
“Let’s also remember,” said John Sullivan, “that Mr. Fogg has not sent us a single message since he left, even though there are telegraph lines in all the places he visited. He is surely lost somewhere.”
“There’s no doubt about that,” said Stuart, “The China, which is the only steamer Fogg could have taken from New York to arrive here on time, sailed in yesterday. His name wasn’t on the passenger list.”
“All that is left, then is to present Phileas Fogg’s check at the bank tomorrow,” Ralph concluded.
At exactly 8:44, a roar went up from the crowd outside the Reform Club. The gentlemen in the saloon stopped playing whist and stood up nervously from the table. A moment later, Phileas Fogg entered the room.
“Here I am, gentlemen!” he said.
Phileas Fogg won his bet after all!
He always paid an unusual amount of attention to the time but forgot that by travelling eastward, or towards the sun, he was able to gain a whole day at the end of his trip around the world.
It was Passepartout who broke the good news. He returned from Reverend Wilson’s house shouting, “Master, it’s impossible for you to get married tomorrow!”
“Why?”
“Tomorrow is Sunday! We arrived home 24 hours ahead of time! Tonight is Saturday, but it’s already 8:40. We have only five minutes to reach the Reform Club!”
Phileas Fogg entered the club with only seconds to spare. He thus won 20,000 pounds but had spent almost 19,000 pounds on his journey. His honour meant much more to him than money, however. He divided the remaining 1,000 pounds between Passepartout and Fix, whom he had forgiven. The servant had to pay the gas bill out of his share. That was Mr. Fogg’s way of teaching him to be more careful about such things in the future.
Having settled with the gentlemen of the Reform Club, Fogg hurried home to Aouda. “Do you still wish to marry me?” he asked.
“I should ask you that question,” she replied. “When you agreed to the wedding, you thought you were ruined. Now you are rich once again.”
“Pardon me, madam, but my fortune belongs to you. If you had not suggested a wedding, Passepartout would not have gone to the Reverend Wilson’s house, and I would not have found out my mistake and been able to appear on time at the Reform Club.”
Phileas Fogg and Aouda were married the following day. Passepartout, who had saved the bride’s life, was the best man. At dawn the next morning, the servant knocked at Fogg’s bedroom door.
“What brings you here so early?”
“I just wanted to tell you, sir, that we might have made the trip around the world in only 78 days.”
“That’s true,” answered Phileas Fogg, “if we had not travelled through India. But then I would not have found Aouda!”
Passepartout closed the door and went to begin his daily chores.
