Читать книгу Вокруг света за 80 дней / Around the World in Eighty Days - Жюль Верн, Жуль Верн - Страница 3

“Oh,” muttered Passepartout, “I saw people at Madame Tussaud’s[15] as lively as my new master!” (Madame Tussaud’s “people” are of wax).

Mr. Fogg was a perfect Englishman. He was so exact that he was never in a hurry, was always ready, and was economical. He always went to his destination by the short cut; he made no superfluous gestures, and was never moved or agitated. He was the most deliberate person in the world. He lived alone, and outside of every social relation.

As for Passepartout, he was a true Parisian of Paris[16]. He abandoned[17] his own country for England, took service as a valet. Passepartout was an honest fellow, with a pleasant face, soft-mannered and serviceable, with a good round head. His eyes were blue, his complexion rubicund, his figure almost portly and well-built, his body muscular, and his physical powers fully developed by the exercises.

Passepartout heard that Mr. Phileas Fogg was looking for a servant. He was sure that this was the place for him. He presented himself, and was accepted.

At half-past eleven, then, Passepartout found himself alone[18] in the house in Saville Row. He began its inspection[19] without delay. The clean, well-arranged, solemn mansion pleased him. It seemed to him like a snail’s shell, lighted and warmed by gas. He suddenly observed a card – a programme of the daily routine of the house. It comprised all that was required of the servant, from eight in the morning: exactly at which hour Phileas Fogg rose, till half-past eleven, when he left the house for the Reform Club – all the details of service, the tea and toast at twenty-three minutes past eight, the shaving-water at thirty-seven minutes past nine, and the toilet at twenty minutes before ten. Everything was regulated.

“This is just what I wanted! – said Passepartout – Mr. Fogg is a domestic and regular gentleman! A real machine!”