[Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne]@TWC D-Link bookAround the World in 80 Days CHAPTER XIV 7/9
Mr.Fogg said nothing; while Passepartout, abashed, kept repeating that "it wasn't worth telling." Aouda pathetically thanked her deliverers, rather with tears than words; her fine eyes interpreted her gratitude better than her lips. Then, as her thoughts strayed back to the scene of the sacrifice, and recalled the dangers which still menaced her, she shuddered with terror. Phileas Fogg understood what was passing in Aouda's mind, and offered, in order to reassure her, to escort her to Hong Kong, where she might remain safely until the affair was hushed up--an offer which she eagerly and gratefully accepted.
She had, it seems, a Parsee relation, who was one of the principal merchants of Hong Kong, which is wholly an English city, though on an island on the Chinese coast. At half-past twelve the train stopped at Benares.
The Brahmin legends assert that this city is built on the site of the ancient Casi, which, like Mahomet's tomb, was once suspended between heaven and earth; though the Benares of to-day, which the Orientalists call the Athens of India, stands quite unpoetically on the solid earth, Passepartout caught glimpses of its brick houses and clay huts, giving an aspect of desolation to the place, as the train entered it. Benares was Sir Francis Cromarty's destination, the troops he was rejoining being encamped some miles northward of the city.
He bade adieu to Phileas Fogg, wishing him all success, and expressing the hope that he would come that way again in a less original but more profitable fashion.
Mr.Fogg lightly pressed him by the hand.
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