at twenty minutes past eight. Passepartout jumped off the box
and followed his master, who, after paying the cabman,
was about to enter the station, when a poor beggar-woman,
with a child in her arms, her naked feet smeared with mud,
her head covered with a wretched bonnet, from which hung a tattered feather,
and her shoulders shrouded in a ragged shawl, approached,
and mournfully asked for alms.

Mr. Fogg took out the twenty guineas he had just won at whist,
and handed them to the beggar, saying, "Here, my good woman.
I'm glad that I met you;" and passed on.

Passepartout had a moist sensation about the eyes;
his master's action touched his susceptible heart.

Two first-class tickets for Paris having been speedily purchased,
Mr. Fogg was crossing the station to the train, when he perceived
his five friends of the Reform.

"Well, gentlemen," said he, "I'm off, you see; and, if you
will examine my passport when I get back, you will be able
to judge whether I have accomplished the journey agreed upon."

"Oh, that would be quite unnecessary, Mr. Fogg," said Ralph politely.
"We will trust your word, as a gentleman of honour."

"You do not forget when you are due in London again?" asked Stuart.

"In eighty days; on Saturday, the 21st of December, 1872,
at a quarter before nine p.m. Good-bye, gentlemen."