"Lord save us!" cried Aunt Charlotte, coming to a dead stop, as she surveyed the ruins.
"It's rather a mess, isn't it ?" remarked Austin, folding a red table-cover round his single leg by way of counterpane.
"A mess!" repeated Aunt Charlotte.

"I should think it _was_ a mess.
How in the world, Austin, did you manage to escape ?" "Well--I happened to get out of bed a minute or two before the ceiling broke," said Austin, "and it's just as well I did.

Otherwise my artless countenance would have got rather disfigured, and I might even have been hurt.

You see all that raw material isn't composed of gossamer----" "What time did it occur ?" asked Aunt Charlotte, shortly.
"The dawn was just breaking.

I suppose it must have been about four o'clock, but I didn't look at my watch," replied Austin.