"To hear the phrase "our only hope" always makes one anxious, because it means that if the only hope doesn't work, there is nothing left." - Daniel Handler

What he'd just said was "Who cares?" and nobody wants to hear that.

I hope, for your sake, that you have not chosen to read this book because you are in the mood for a pleasant experience. If this is the case, I advise you to put this book down instantaneously, because of all the books describing the unhappy lives of the Baudelaire orphans, The Miserable Mill might be the unhappiest yet. Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire are sent to Paltryville to work in a lumber mill, and they find disaster and misfortune lurking behind every log.

Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so.