Sunday Small—Biddy Spooner

Sunday Small and Biddy Spooner form a family-like relationship grounded less in formal declarations than in sustained acts of care. Biddy notices what Sunday needs, entrusts her with meaningful work, and makes room for pleasure as well as duty; Sunday, in turn, treats Biddy’s household as a place of belonging. Their bond becomes especially clear after Daisy Branning’s death, when practical support, shared grief, and a journey to London show how deeply Sunday has entered Biddy’s family circle.

A Bond Built Through Care

Biddy’s affection for Sunday appears in how she responds to the life of the household. After Daisy dies, Biddy wears black and grieves for the young girl, whom she had grown very fond of. Her sorrow is accompanied by a practical worry: the lodging house is thriving, but Daisy’s death leaves Sunday facing the work without her friend to share it. Biddy does not treat Sunday’s labor as an invisible resource. She sees that the girl is running herself ragged and approves bringing in Nell from the workhouse to help. The decision addresses an immediate need, while also showing Biddy’s willingness to adjust the household around Sunday’s limits.

That concern does not make Sunday merely a dependent in Biddy’s care. The lodging house’s renewed success is explicitly credited to Sunday, and Biddy tells her she has earned a treat. Their relationship therefore combines protection with recognition: Biddy offers support, but she also acknowledges Sunday’s contribution to the home and its prosperity. When she considers extending the lodging house in the future, she shares that possibility with Sunday while insisting that they first enjoy their break. The exchange places Sunday within the household’s present and imagined future, rather than at its margins.

Remembering Sunday’s Birthday

Biddy helps give Sunday a personal history that can be celebrated. On Sunday’s fifteenth birthday, Lady Lavinia Huntley explains that she knew the date because she had signed Sunday’s release papers from the workhouse. Biddy has arranged a small party to mark the occasion. Sunday realizes that Annie’s recent errands and efforts to keep her away from the kitchen had concealed the preparations. The table is laden with treats, and the gathering is remarkable to Sunday because no one has ever done anything like this for her before.

The party turns a fact recorded on release papers into a day of affection shared with others. It also makes visible the contrast between Sunday’s earlier institutional life and the attentive household she now inhabits. Biddy’s gift is not only the celebration itself. She has made it possible for Sunday’s birthday to be remembered by a group who know her and want to honor her, an experience that leaves Sunday struggling to hold back tears at kindness.

A Holiday and a Place in the Family

Biddy’s final birthday surprise is a week-long holiday in London for Sunday, Biddy, and Jacob. They will travel by train, and the hotel has already been booked. Biddy explains that the new clothes given to Sunday are for visiting the capital, though Sunday will also help her dress and attend to her while they are away. The invitation thus joins pleasure with the familiar exchange of care: Sunday is included in the trip as a companion and as someone Biddy trusts to assist her.

Sunday’s first concern is what will happen at Whittleford Lodge while they are gone. Biddy has arranged for Annie to move in and supervise Nell and Mickey, so the household will not be left without support. The details matter to Sunday because her attachment to the home is expressed through responsibility for its people and work. Biddy answers that concern without dismissing it, ensuring that Sunday can leave for a week without feeling that she has abandoned her duties.

Before the journey, Sunday spends some of her wages on smart tan-leather buttoned boots from the market’s rag stall. They fit perfectly and, unlike her more workaday shoes, are suitable for her new clothes and the capital. Her anticipation of London is therefore marked by a purchase she has chosen for herself, within a trip Biddy has made possible. The holiday offers Sunday experiences beyond the marketplace of her home town, but it also confirms that she belongs among the people who plan, prepare, and travel together.

Chosen Family and Shared Loss

Sunday understands the depth of this attachment in relation to those she has lost. She says that Biddy and Jacob have become the nearest thing to a family she has ever had apart from Tommy Branning and Daisy. She cannot imagine leaving them, even though the dream of opening a home for foundlings still returns to her. The obstacle is concrete: she would need a suitable property and the means to clothe, feed, and educate the children, while her wages could never provide enough. Her gratitude for Biddy’s generosity exists alongside the persistence of that larger ambition; belonging does not erase the purpose Sunday has carried since seeing neglected babies in the workhouse nursery.

In London, the bond is expressed through ordinary attentiveness. When Biddy prefers to dine in her room, Sunday says she would be content to stay with her rather than leave her alone. Later, Sunday plans to press flowers between the pages of a book and place them on Daisy’s grave when she returns home. Jacob recognizes how much she misses her friend. On a boat trip along the River Thames toward the Tower of London, Sunday reflects that wealth and fame matter less than good family and friends, a safe place to live, and people one loves. She has finally accepted that her mother will not come looking for her and sees Biddy and the people at Whittleford Lodge as the closest family she is likely to have. Biddy responds by squeezing her hand. The gesture does not undo Sunday’s sorrow, but it meets it with quiet presence.

The relationship’s significance lies in this combination of material support and emotional recognition. Biddy helps Sunday through bereavement, notices when the work becomes too much, marks a birthday that might otherwise pass without celebration, and invites her into a shared holiday. Sunday’s attachment is reciprocal: she worries about Biddy’s comfort and treats the household as her own sphere of responsibility. Their bond is not a substitute for Sunday’s memories of Daisy or her hope of helping abandoned children. It is the chosen family that gives her care and companionship while those losses and hopes remain part of her life.