The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket Page A

up and find him asleep, still clutching his flashlight in one hand and his book in the other. But on this particular night, of course, the circumstances were much different.
         Klaus stood by the window, squinting as he read his smuggled book by the moonlight that trickled into the room. He occasionally glanced at his sisters. Violet was sleeping fitfully—a word which here means “with much tossing and turning”—on the lumpy bed, and Sunny had wormed her way into the pile of curtains so that she just looked like a small heap of doth. Klaus had not told his siblings about the book, because he didn't want to give them false hope. He wasn't sure the book would help them out of their dilemma.
         The book was long, and difficult to read, and Klaus became more and more tired as the night wore on. Occasionally his eyes would dose. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. He found himself reading the same sentence over and over. But then he would remember the way the hook-hands of Count Olaf's associate had glinted in the library, and would imagine them tearing into his flesh, and he would wake right up and continue reading. He found a small scrap of paper and tore it into strips, which he used to mark significant parts of the book.
         By the time the light outside grew gray with the approaching dawn, Klaus had found out all he needed to know. His hopes rose along with the sun. Finally, when the first few birds began to sing, Klaus tiptoed to the door of the bedroom and eased it open quietly, careful not to wake the restless Violet or Sunny, who was still hidden in the pile of curtains. Then he went to the kitchen and sat and waited for Count Olaf.
         He didn't have to wait long before he heard Olaf tromping down the tower stairs. When Count Olaf walked into the kitchen, he saw Klaus sitting at the table and smirked, a word which here means “smiled in an unfriendly, phony way.”
         “Hello, orphan,” he said. “You're up early.”
         Klaus's heart was beating fast, but he felt calm on the outside, as if he had on a layer of invisible armor. “I've been up all night,” he said, “reading this book.” He put the book out on the table so Olaf could see it. “It's called Nuptial Law, ” Klaus said, “and I learned many interesting things while reading it.”
         Count Olaf had taken out a bottle of wine to pour himself some breakfast, but when he saw the book he stopped, and sat down.
         “The word 'nuptial,'” Klaus said, “means 'relating to marriage.'”
         “I know what the word means,” Count Olaf growled. “Where did you get that book?”
         “From Justice Strauss's library,” Klaus said. “But that's not important. What's important is that I have found out your plan.”,
         “Is that so?” Count Olaf
     said, his one eyebrow raising. “And what is my plan, you little runt?”
         Klaus ignored the insult and opened the book to where one of the scraps of paper was marking his place. “'The laws of marriage in this community are very simple,'” he read out loud.
         “'The requirements are as follows: the presence of a judge, a statement of ”I do“ by both the bride and the groom, and the signing of an explanatory document in the bride's own hand.”, Klaus put down the book and pointed at Count Olaf. “If my sister says 'I do' and signs a piece of paper, while Justice Strauss is in the room, then she is legally married. This play you're putting on shouldn't be called The Marvelous Marriage. It should be called The Menacing Marriage. You're not going to marry Violet figuratively—you're going to marry her literally! This play won't be pretend; it will be real and legally binding.”
         Count Olaf laughed a rough, hoarse laugh. “Your sister isn't old enough to get married.”
         “She can get married if she has the