Un gentiluomo d’inflessibile puntualità e il suo nuovo servitore

When Fogg walks, he always does it in the same way. His step is always the same. Sometimes he walks in the big entrance hall of the club. The floor there is inlaid, that is, with patterns in the wood or in the stone. Other times he walks on the circular gallery of the club. Above the gallery there is a dome. The dome has light blue glass, that is, blue glass. The dome is supported by twenty ionic columns. The columns are made of red porphyry, a red stone.

At breakfast and at lunch, the club prepares everything for him. The kitchens of the club send the food. The pantry also sends many products. There is also the club fish shop, for fish. And there is the club dairy, for milk and cheese. These parts of the club give his table very good and juicy supplies. The club waiters are serious people. They wear a black suit. They have shoes with flannel soles, that is, a soft fabric, and they walk without noise.

The waiters serve him with special porcelain. They put the food on Saxony cloth tablecloths. The Saxony cloth is a very fine fabric. On the table there are also very pure crystal glasses. In these glasses Fogg drinks sherry. He also drinks port. Sometimes he drinks claret. In the claret there are also spices: cinnamon, capelvenere (a plant), and cinnamomo (a spice). The club also uses ice that arrives from the lakes of America, with great expense, and so the drinks stay fresh.

If living like this is called “eccentricity”, then Fogg is eccentric. And this eccentricity also has good things. His house in Saville Row is not very big and rich. But it is very comfortable. Fogg has habits that are always the same. For this reason, the work at home is little. But Fogg asks his only servant for extraordinary punctuality. He also asks for extraordinary regularity.

On that very day, 2 October, Fogg sends away the servant James Forster. Why does he send him away? James Forster brings the water for shaving. The water is at 84 degrees Fahrenheit. But Fogg wants it at 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Degrees Fahrenheit are an English measure of temperature. For Fogg, this mistake is serious. Now he waits for a new servant. The new servant must arrive between eleven and half past eleven.

Fogg is sitting in a big armchair. He keeps his feet close together, like a soldier on parade. He keeps his hands on his knees. His body is straight. His head is held high. He looks at the pendulum clock. The clock has a sphere that moves. It is a complicated machine: it shows hours, minutes, seconds, days, months and the year. At half past eleven, as every day, Fogg must go out and go to the Reform-Club.

At that moment someone knocks at the sitting-room door. Fogg is there, in the sitting room. James Forster appears, the servant whom Fogg has dismissed. Forster says, “The new servant.” A young man comes in. He is about thirty years old. The man greets him. Fogg asks him, “Are you French?” Then he also asks, “Are you called John?”