Chapter Twelve Summary

Just as he did in the opening of the novel, Lemony Snicket urges the reader to stop reading now. There will be no happy ending for the Baudelaires. As much as he wishes that he could change the ending of their story, he cannot.

Once the Baudelaires have freed the Quagmires, the children look around to see an angry mob of villagers approaching with fiery stakes ready to set them alight. Isabelle and Duncan Quagmire announce that they know everything that's going on. They've been listening to all the gossip around the fountain, and they've been keeping notes about their discoveries in their trusty notebooks. They claim to have groundbreaking information about Count Olaf, the Baudelaires' parents' deaths, and the V.F.D. Before they can share their information, however, the mob descends on them, shouting for their execution. The children...