I am Phileas Fogg. On this day October 2, 1872, I have employed a Frenchmen named Passpartout. He will be my new servant as i only need one. I have left him and gone to my club, "The Reform Club." I eat my breakfast at my same table in the dining room. I go into another room and read The Times until a quarter before four. Then I read The Standard until the dinner hour. My friends come in a few minutes later. They start talking about a bank robbery that occurred a few days before.
I say "The Daily Telegraph says that he is a gentleman" (Around the World In 80 Days, Verne). This my opinion of the robber. I enter into the conversation with this statement. We go on to play a few rubbers of whist. Then we start to discuss how long it would take to travel around the world. A newspaper says that it would 80 days.
I insist that this is the correct estimate. One of my friends asks me if I would wager on my making the trip around the world in 80 days. I accept the wager and wager 20,000 pounds that I will successfully complete the trip. I say i will start the trip tonight. I will catch the train for Dover at a quarter before nine. They offer to suspend the game for me to prepare. I say that I'm quite ready now. I ask them to continue our game of whist.
I then leave my club at 25 minutes after seven. I go back to my house and I go to my room. I call my servant twice before he comes to my room. I tell him we are going around the world in 80 days. I ask him to get a carpet bag, two shirts, and three pairs of trousers for me and for himself. At eight we lock the house door and ride a cab to Charing Cross.
I meet a woman covered in rags with a child in her arms asking for alms. I give the 20 guineas i won at whist then night to her, glad i have met her. Then I proceed to the platform. I meet my friends on the platform and tell them that they will check my passport when I return to prove that I made the journey. I say goodbye to them and Passpartout and I board the train. A while later as the train passes a town Passpartout lets of a sound of anguish. I ask him what is the matter. He tells me that he left the gas burning in his room when we left the house. I tell that it will burn at his expense.
