They go to the mansion to see if anything can be retrieved, but the children discover that they have lost everything. Her "inventive brain [seems] to stop" with grief for a while. The children were taken to 's , where they lived with his wife, , and their two beastly children, and , who disliked the orphans for being so glum. The following day, announced that they were to be taken to their closest living relative, . He interpreted this phrase as the orphans' third or fourth cousin who happened to live closest in the city. He likely had a bit of help from the Count himself, which should have sounded some kind of mental alarm.
Mr. Poe drives the to the street where Count Olaf resides, but not before stopping by the home of . The children cheerfully introduce themselves, thinking they will be living with the High Court judge. They were soon corrected when Justice Strauss revealed that she was actually Count Olaf's neighbor and were instead directed to , which was in severe disrepair. Violet privately thinks she would rather live in and then proceeded to wonder why Olaf would carve a large eye on his front door.
Olaf menacingly greeted them before inviting them into the dirtiest house they've ever seen. When Olaf suggested that he could use the to fix it up, Mr. Poe sternly corrects him by stating that the money remains inaccessible until Violet comes of age. For a second, Violet believes that Olaf may strike the banker out of spite, but instead, he escorts him outside. The children then notice an eye tattooed on Olaf's ankle. This very eye would come to haunt their thoughts for years to come.
Violet cleaning Olaf's disgusting house.
Olaf forcibly places the Baudelaire children in one small bedroom with only one worn bed. Violet and Klaus take turns sleeping on it, though they discover that the bed was just as uncomfortable as the floor. Violet designs a bed for Sunny out of the dusty curtains. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of letting the sun stream into the room every morning. Though he isn't around much, Olaf turned out to be an unkind, strict figure. Over the next several days, he left them with a lengthy list of strenuous chore list in addition to lumpy oatmeal for breakfast on a daily basis. The chores are indeed difficult. For example, Violet and her younger siblings had to repaint the back porch and repair the windows, but they did their best. Violet was able to get the chimney cleaned and the windows fixed due to her inventive interests.
One morning, Violet and her siblings stumble across an added chore to their list. It had stated that the children must prepare dinner for all ten members of his troupe, along with a small sum of money for ingredients. None of the children knew how to cook, causing Klaus to become hysterical. Violet comforts him, reassuring him that she also hated living in Olaf's house, but they had to keep their chin up for the time being, as their father would have said. The siblings then searched the kitchen to find a cookbook that contained an easy recipe but are unable to find one. At that moment, Justice Strauss paid a visit to see how the children were settling in. Violet and her siblings took the opportunity to ask if they could borrow a cookbook, much to Strauss's surprise. When she pointed out how unusual Olaf's request was, Violet shrugged off the absurdity by simply stating that Olaf gives them a lot of responsibility. This was because the young inventor was too well-mannered to complain.
They followed Justice Strauss to her library and once they entered, they became fascinated by her wide collection of books. Violet requests a mechanical engineering, though she and everyone else agreed that finding a cookbook first should be their number one priority. After searching for half an hour, her brother Klaus found a recipe for , leading to Strauss to take the children to the market to shop for ingredients. They were thankfully able to buy what they need and Violet thanked Strauss when they returned to Olaf's mansion. She was unsure if they were expected to return the favor so she offered to help Strauss with chores as recompense, but she politely assured them that it will not be necessary.
Notes on Violet Baudelaire
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