AFTER-EFFECTS 93 



be detached, and here was the water rushing down 

 all over them. I stood under an umbrella with 

 rain pouring on me from the ceiling, trying to get 

 them off; the man who was pulling out the nails 

 was beaten on and swamped by the floods, and they 

 poured all down the stairs. What a scene ! We 

 had finished just in time, and on looking into the 

 billiard-room, I was thankful to see it was appar- 

 ently rain-proof. We heard of some curious 

 incidents in the town. A man returning from office 

 happened to have had no knowledge of the earth- 

 quake. The weather was as usual ; everything was 

 calm ; not a breath of wind. Yet here was the side 

 of his second-storey room out in the street ; with 

 all the clothes that he had intended to change into 

 for tennis, that had been carefully arranged on 

 chairs by his servant. Also his dressing-table. All 

 had come to meet him. His face was a study when 

 he drove up. "Why the ?" "How the ?" 

 An enormously stout woman was seen coming 

 hand over hand down the lightning rod from 

 her fourth-storey window. How she reached the 

 ground in safety was a marvel, but she did. 



And now began four months' picnic, or dis- 



