Klaus climbs to the top of the tower to save sunny and discovers a giant magnifying glass pointed at the ruins of their house. Violet tries to convince judge strouss that the play is real but fails. Violet ends up marrying count olaf. Count olaf then preceeds to tell the audience his evil plan. Nobody can do anything because it's not illegal for him to marry violet. As count olaf is talking Klaus points the giant magnifying glass at the marriage certificate and sets it on fire. Count olaf tries to make a break for it but he is captured. The final scene has violet Klaus and sunny all sleeping as Mr. Poe drives them to their next guardian. Lemony Snicket tells us that Olaf has escaped and is now on the run.
Hazax of Rodmore
Answer: A magnifying glass concentrates all the light that goes through it at its focal point, and it is this focal point that needs to be placed on the object which one wants to set on fire. The distance of the focal point to the lens depends on the magnifying glass characteristics, and it is more than likely that Count Olaf chose a glass where the focal point would be situated exactly "37 blocks" away from his house, that is, at the Baudelaire's mansion. When trying to set on fire an object much, much closer, the glass would concentrate much, much less energy, and would only be able to set on fire easily burnt objects, such as thin paper.
AnthonyA