Adventure stories; Voyages around the world -- Fiction
Having heard of the proverbial method and coolness of the English
gentleman, he had come to seek his fortune in England; but up to the
present time fate had been adverse. He had tried six situations, but
remained in none. In all of them he had found either a whimsical, an
irregular, or a restless master, which did not suit Passe-partout. His
last master, the young Lord Longsferry, M.P., after passing the
evening in the Haymarket, was carried home on the policemen's
shoulders. Passe-partout, wishing above all things to respect his
master, remonstrated in a respectful manner; but as his expostulations
were so ill received, he took his leave. It was at that time that he
heard Phileas Fogg was in search of a servant, and he presented
himself for the situation. A gentleman whose life was so regular, who
never stayed away from home, who never travelled, who never was absent
even for a day, was the very master for him, so he presented himself
and was engaged, as we have seen.
Thus it came to pass that at half-past eleven o'clock, Passe-partout
found himself alone in the house in Saville Row. He immediately
commenced to look about him, and search the house from cellar to
garret. This well-arranged, severe, almost puritanical house pleased
him very much. It appeared to him like the pretty shell of a snail;
but a snail's shell lighted and warmed with gas would serve for both
those purposes. He soon discovered the room he was to occupy, and was
quite satisfied. Electric bells and indiarubber speaking-tubes put him
into communication with the rooms, below. Upon the chimney-piece stood
an electric clock, which kept time exactly with that in Phileas Fogg's
bedroom.
"This will suit me exactly," said Passe-partout to himself.
He also remarked in his room a notice fixed above the clock. It was
the programme of his daily duties. It included the whole details of
the service from eight o'clock in the morning, the hour at which Mr.
Fogg invariably arose, to half-past eleven, when he left the house to
breakfast at the Reform Club. It comprised everything--the tea and
toast at twenty-three minutes past eight, the shaving-water at
thirty-seven minutes past nine, and his attendance at his master's
toilet at twenty minutes to ten, and so on. Then from half-past eleven
a.m. until midnight, when the methodical Fogg retired to bed,
everything was noted down and arranged for. Passe-partout joyfully set
himself to study the programme and to master its contents.
Mr. Fogg's wardrobe was well stocked and wonderfully arranged. Every
pair of trousers, coat, or waistcoat bore a number, which was also
noted in a register of entries and exits, indicating the date on
which, according to the season, the clothes were to be worn. There
were even relays of shoes and boots.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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