"You believe in this journey round the world, then?"
"Most decidedly; don't you?"
"Not a bit of it."
"You are a sly one," replied Passe-partout with a wink.
This remark rather disturbed Fix, without his knowing why. Could the Frenchman have discovered who he was? He did not know what to do. But how could Passe-partout have found out his real object? And yet in speaking as he did, Passe-partout must certainly have had some ulterior motive.
On a subsequent occasion the valet went still further, and said, half maliciously:
"Well, Mr. Fix, shall we be so unfortunate as to lose the pleasure of your society at Hong Kong?"
"Well," replied Fix, somewhat embarrassed, "I am not quite sure. You see—"
"Ah," said Passe-partout, "if you would only come with us I should be
so delighted. An agent of the company cannot stop halfway, you know.
You were only going to Bombay, and here you are almost in China.
America is not far off, and from America to Europe is but a step."
Fix looked very hard at his companion, whose face was perfectly innocent, and laughed too. But Passe-partout was in the humour for quizzing, and asked him if he made much by his present business.