and arranges mannequins to appear as if they have fortified the household. She believes her brother is going mad and moves to an area of the property she calls "the vault," somewhere her brother is afraid to go. She brings a book of spells which she continuously writes in. Her brother begins building a shooting post from two letters on the property and dons himself king with a dead raccoon cap. She remains in the vault chronicling her thoughts. A figure emerges from the forest on a machine they have never seen before. It's the mine inspector who the main character now believes is her prince. He finds her in the vault, making a horrific discovery. He has looked at the baptismal records and sees that there are supposed to be twin sisters on this property. The mine inspector ventures into the vault and sees a humanoid figure bandaged from head to toe, still alive and another figure, a skeleton, hidden behind a glass case. The narrator explains that she believes they have been there forever and her father used to attend to them and spend time with them but then stopped and she has been feeding and tending to them ever since. The living figure is referred to as the 'Fair Punishment'. She makes it further obvious the Fair Punishment is her twin and the decomposed body in the glass case is her mother, although she does not understand it. When the twins were four years old, the Fair Punishment had a habit of playing with matches that resulted in a fire which killed their mother. The Fair Punishment survived but was severely burned, and the father believed being burned alive was her punishment for her misdeeds. The mine inspector then tells her he wants to take her to safety. He also points out that she is pregnant with her brother's child. They leave on his motorcycle. He is her prince and they are riding away on his steed. As they are riding into the pines, the inspector is shot in the back by the brother. He is killed instantly. She returns to the vault as more villagers begin to appear at the property. As her brother surrenders, she packs up belongings and escapes into the pines. The book ends with her giving birth. Film adaptation A film adaptation by Simon Lavoie, The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond