- Having a good cry does help, doesn't it? It does for the Baudelaire children, anyway, who feel a little bit better the next morning.
- Count Olaf leaves them the usual list of difficult chores—think: chopping wood—and the children discuss their situation as they work.
- Justice Strauss is nice, but she probably can't do anything for them. People don't just adopt strange children out of the blue, do they?
- Klaus suggests going to see Mr. Poe at his bank. Hey, he did say he would help.
- After they're done with their chores, the children walk toward the financial district and find Mr. Poe hard at work at his bank, Mulctuary Money Management.
- Except Mr. Poe is very busy and doesn't have much time for them—naturally.
- The children explain their situation: Count Olaf is an abusive monster who's hit Klaus, given them only one bed, makes them do ridiculous chores, drinks too much, and is always asking about their enormous fortune.
- Mr. Poe half listens to the children talk as he answers the phones in his office.
- Finally, Mr. Poe breaks it down for the kids: Count Olaf is their legal guardian now, so he can raise them however he sees fit, and there isn't anything Mr. Poe can do about it. Their money, however, will be safe here in the bank.
- Violet, Klaus, and Sunny recognize that Mr. Poe won't help them, so they leave the bank. Are all the adults in this story totally useless? Possibly.
- On their way back home, the children stop at Justice Strauss's house to borrow some more books from her library.
- Reading about all their favorite things helps them escape for a little while from their grim situation, even if the escape is only in their minds. (See? Books are magic.)