A Series of Unfortunate Events Book 1 | Page 7

Lemony Snicket
middle of
the carved eye. There was a pause, and then the door creaked open and
the children saw Count Olaf for the first time. “Hello
hello hello,” Count Olaf said in a wheezy whisper. He was very tall
and very thin, dressed in a gray suit that had many dark stains on it.
His face was unshaven, and rather than two eyebrows, like most human
beings have, he had just one long one. His eyes were very, very
shiny, which made him look both hungry and angry. “Hello, my children.
Please step into your new home, and wipe your feet outside so
no mud gets indoors.” As
they stepped into the house, Mr. Poe behind them, the Baudelaire orphans
realized what a ridiculous thing Count Olaf had just said. The room
in which they found themselves was the dirtiest they had ever seen,
and a little bit of mud from outdoors wouldn't have made a bit of

difference.
Even by the dim light of the one bare lightbulb that hung from
the ceiling, the three children could see that everything in this room
was filthy, from the stuffed head of a lion which was nailed to the
wall to the bowl of apple cores which sat on a small wooden table. Klaus
willed himself not to cry as he looked around. “This
room looks like it needs a little work,” Mr. Poe said, peering around
in the gloom. “I
realize that my humble home isn't as fancy as the Baudelaire mansion,”
Count Olaf said, “but perhaps with a bit of your money we could
fix it up a little nicer.” Mr.
Poe's eyes widened in surprise, and his coughs echoed in the dark room
before he spoke. “The
Baudelaire fortune,” he said sternly, “will not be used for such matters.
In fact, it will not be used at all, until Violet is of age.” Count
Olaf turned to Mr. Poe with a glint in his eye like an angry dog. For
a moment Violet thought he was going to strike Mr. Poe across the face.
But then he swallowed-the children could see his Adam's apple bob
in his skinny throat-and shrugged his patchy shoulders. “All
right then,” he said. “It's the same to me. Thank you very much, Mr.
Poe, for bringing them here. Children, I will now show you to your room.”
“Good-bye,
Violet, Klaus, and Sunny,” Mr. Poe said, stepping back through
the front door. “I hope you will be very happy here. I will continue
to see you occasionally, and you can always contact me at the bank
if you have any questions.” “But
we don't even know where the bank is,” Klaus said. “I
have a map of the city,” Count Olaf said. “Good-bye, Mr. Poe.” He
leaned forward to shut the door, and the Baudelaire orphans were too
overcome with despair to get a last glimpse of Mr. Poe. They now wished
they could all stay at the Poe household, even though it smelled.
Rather than looking at the door, then, the orphans looked down,
and saw that although Count Olaf was wearing shoes, he wasn't wearing
any socks. They could see, in the space
of pale skin between his tattered trouser cuff and his black shoe,

that
Count Olaf
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