, so that the young lady might not feel herself quite
alone.

Mr. Fogg made his way to the exchange, for he rightly conjectured that
such a rich man as Jejeeb would be most likely heard of in that
direction.

The broker to whom Mr. Fogg addressed himself knew the man for whom he
was inquiring, but he had left China two years before, and gone to
live in Holland, he thought; for he had principally traded with Dutch
merchants.

Phileas Fogg returned to the hotel, and informed Mrs. Aouda that her
cousin had left Hong Kong, and had gone to live in Holland.

Mrs. Aouda made no reply for a moment; she passed her hand across her
brow, and appeared lost in thought. At length, in a gentle voice, she
said, "What ought I to do, Mr. Fogg?"

"Your course is simple enough," he replied; "come on to Europe."

"But I cannot intrude upon you."

"You do not intrude in the least. Passe-partout."

"Sir."

"Go to the _Carnatic_ and secure three berths."

Passe-partout was delighted to think that the young lady was going to
continue her journey with them, for she had been very kind to him. He
accordingly quitted the hotel to execute his master's orders
cheerfully.

CHAPTER XIX.

Showing how Passe-partout took too great an interest in his Master,
and what came of it.

Hong Kong is only an island, which fell into the possession of the
English by the Treaty of Nankin, in 1843. In a few years the
colonising enterprise of the British made of it an important city and
a fine port--Victoria. The island is at the mouth of the Canton river,
sixty miles only from Macao, upon the opposite bank. Hong Kong has
beaten the other port in the struggle for commercial supremacy, and
the greater traffic in Chinese merchandise finds its way to the
island. There are docks, hospitals, wharfs, warehouses, a cathedral, a
Government house, macadamised roads, &c., which give to Hong Kong as
English an aspect as a town in Kent or Surrey, which had by some
accident fallen to the antipodes.

Passe-partout, with his hands in his pockets, wandered towards Port
Victoria, gazing at the people as they passed, and admiring the
palanquins and other conveyances. The city appeared to him like
Bombay, Calcutta, and Singapore; or like any other town colonised by
the English.

At the port situated at the mouth of the Canton river was a regular
confusion of ships of all nations, commercial and warlike: junks,
sempas, tankas, and even flower-boats, like