Yes; Phileas Fogg in person.

The reader will remember that at five minutes past eight in theevening--about five and twenty hours after the arrival of thetravellers in London--Passepartout had been sent by his master toengage the services of the Reverend Samuel Wilson in a certain marriageceremony, which was to take place the next day.

Passepartout went on his errand enchanted. He soon reached theclergyman's house, but found him not at home. Passepartout waited agood twenty minutes, and when he left the reverend gentleman, it wasthirty-five minutes past eight. But in what a state he was! With hishair in disorder, and without his hat, he ran along the street as neverman was seen to run before, overturning passers-by, rushing over thesidewalk like a waterspout.

In three minutes he was in Saville Row again, and staggered back intoMr. Fogg's room.

He could not speak.

"What is the matter?" asked Mr. Fogg.

"My master!" gasped Passepartout--"marriage--impossible--"

"Impossible?"

"Impossible--for to-morrow."

"Why so?"

"Because to-morrow--is Sunday!"

"Monday," replied Mr. Fogg.

"No--to-day is Saturday."

"Saturday? Impossible!"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes!" cried Passepartout. "You have made a mistake ofone day! We arrived twenty-four hours ahead of time; but there areonly ten minutes left!"

Passepartout had seized his master by the collar, and was dragging himalong with irresistible force.

Phileas Fogg, thus kidnapped, without having time to think, left hishouse, jumped into a cab, promised a hundred pounds to the cabman, and,having run over two dogs and overturned five carriages, reached theReform Club.

The clock indicated a quarter before nine when he appeared in the greatsaloon.

Phileas Fogg had accomplished the journey round the world in eightydays!

Phileas Fogg had won his wager of twenty thousand pounds!

How was it that a man so exact and fastidious could have made thiserror of a day? How came he to think that he had arrived in London onSaturday, the twenty-first day of December, when it was really Friday,the twentieth, the seventy-ninth day only from his departure?

The cause of the error is very simple.

Phileas Fogg had, without suspecting it, gained one day on his journey,and this merely because he had travelled constantly eastward; he would,on the contrary, have lost a day had he gone in the opposite direction,that is, westward.

In journeying eastward he had gone towards the sun, and the daystherefore diminished for him as many times four minutes as he crosseddegrees in this direction. There are three hundred and sixty degreeson the circumference of the earth; and these three hundred and sixtydegrees, multiplied by four minutes, gives precisely twenty-fourhours--that is, the day unconsciously gained. In other words, whilePhileas Fogg, going eastward, saw the sun pass the meridian eightytimes, his friends in London only saw it pass the meridian seventy-ninetimes. This is why they awaited him at the Reform Club on Saturday,and not Sunday, as Mr. Fogg thought.

And Passepartout's famous family watch, which had always kept Londontime, would have betrayed this fact, if it had marked the days as wellas the hours and the minutes!

Phileas Fogg, then, had won the twenty thousand pounds; but, as he hadspent nearly nineteen thousand on the way, the pecuniary gain wassmall. His object was, however, to be victorious, and not to winmoney. He divided the one thousand pounds that remained betweenPassepartout and the unfortunate Fix, against whom he cherished nogrudge. He deducted, however, from Passepartout's share the cost ofthe gas which had burned in his room for nineteen hundred and twentyhours, for the sake of regularity.

That evening, Mr. Fogg, as tranquil and phlegmatic as ever, said toAouda: "Is our marriage still agreeable to you?"

"Mr. Fogg," replied she, "it is for me to ask that question. You wereruined, but now you are rich again."

"Pardon me, madam; my fortune belongs to you. If you had not suggestedour marriage, my servant would not have gone to the Reverend SamuelWilson's, I should not have been apprised of my error, and--"

"Dear Mr. Fogg!" said the young woman.

"Dear Aouda!" replied Phileas Fogg.

It need not be said that the marriage took place forty-eight hoursafter, and that Passepartout, glowing and dazzling, gave the brideaway. Had he not saved her, and was he not entitled to this honour?

The next day, as soon as it was light, Passepartout rapped vigorouslyat his master's door. Mr. Fogg opened it, and asked, "What's thematter, Passepartout?"

"What is it, sir? Why, I've just this instant found out--"

"What?"

"That we might have made the tour of the world in only seventy-eightdays."

"No doubt," returned Mr. Fogg, "by not crossing India. But if I hadnot crossed India, I should not have saved Aouda; she would not havebeen my wife, and--"

Mr. Fogg quietly shut the door.

Phileas Fogg had won his wager, and had made his journey around theworld in eighty days. To do this he had employed every means ofconveyance--steamers, railways, carriages, yachts, trading-vessels,sledges, elephants. The eccentric gentleman had throughout displayedall his marvellous qualities of coolness and exactitude. But whatthen? What had he really gained by all this trouble? What had hebrought back from this long and weary journey?

Nothing, say you? Perhaps so; nothing but a charming woman, who,strange as it may appear, made him the happiest of men!

Truly, would you not for less than that make the tour around the world?