Sunday’s harassment and fear of Pinnegar

Sunday Small’s harassment and fear of Pinnegar form a sustained thread of danger after his authority at the workhouse has ended. His approaches shift between offers, intimidation, and surveillance, while Sunday’s brave responses coexist with real apprehension. The threat reaches beyond her: his presence unsettles Nell, his rumours damage Sunday’s standing, and his watchers make ordinary journeys feel unsafe.

Origins of the Fear

Sunday’s fear is rooted in what she has seen Pinnegar do to other girls as well as in the danger he presents to her. At the workhouse, she learns that he exploited Cissie Burns, who became pregnant after he coerced her. When the asylum carriage arrived to remove Cissie, Sunday saw her protest that Pinnegar had caused her situation and then watched Miss Frost discredit her. Sunday intervened as the men tried to take Cissie away, striking one of them to loosen his hold. Cissie was removed despite her resistance, leaving Sunday with the knowledge that an accusation against Pinnegar could be met with institutional force rather than protection.

Later, when Lady Lavinia Huntley asks whether Pinnegar was a kind master, Sunday momentarily panics before recounting Cissie’s experience. She explains how Pinnegar had summoned Cissie to work in his office, how Cissie feared refusing him, and how Miss Frost had promised a safe destination before the asylum carriage appeared. Sunday’s account shows that her fear is bound to the earlier failure to protect her friend: she has seen Pinnegar’s position of trust and Miss Frost’s authority combine to silence a victim. Her concern is not simply for her own safety but for the consequences of his power over vulnerable girls.

The Market Confrontation

After Pinnegar has been exposed and reduced to street sweeping, Sunday encounters him at a market stall with Daisy Branning. He leans on a broom and glares from across the road; Daisy gasps at the sight of him and draws close to Sunday. Sunday tells Daisy to ignore him, but Pinnegar approaches and leers at Daisy’s pregnant stomach. Sunday refuses to let his presence dictate their movements, telling him to return to his work and leave them alone.

Pinnegar blames Sunday for his circumstances and threatens revenge against her and the others. She answers that he brought his troubles on himself and abused a position of trust. The stall-holder turns to see what is happening, making the confrontation public rather than private. Pinnegar then warns Sunday that he knows where she lives and tells her to watch her back. He leaves, but the threat follows the girls home: Sunday squeezes Daisy’s hand and insists they are safe, even as the journey has shaken them and spoiled their outing.

Repeated Pursuit and Growing Isolation

The encounter does not end Pinnegar’s attention. Sunday continues to visit the market each Wednesday, but what had been an outing becomes something she dreads. Sometimes Pinnegar waits with two unpleasant-looking companions. On one occasion, he appears after she has visited only a handful of stalls and offers to take her to an eating-house. When she rejects him, his men block her way. He then proposes that she move into his cottage and promises that she could live comfortably without working. Sunday rejects the offer plainly and tells him to leave her alone.

She also confronts him about the damage at Biddy Spooner’s home, accusing him of encouraging the egging of its windows and the killing of its poultry. Pinnegar denies responsibility while hinting that he knows what the household is doing. A stall-holder asks whether the men are bothering Sunday, but she keeps her eyes on Pinnegar and says they are leaving. He turns away with his companions. Though she has held her ground, she trembles inside and repeatedly looks back on her way home, relieved when Whittleford Lodge comes into view.

The pattern continues through the winter and into the following months. Sunday keeps the weekly visits from the people at Whittleford Lodge, not wanting to distress Daisy, who is already jumpy after the attacks on the household’s chickens. Pinnegar sometimes waits in the market with men, and on another occasion Sunday finds him watching from a shop doorway while two of his men observe her movements. He has learned her Wednesday routine. His interest combines resentment and possessiveness; the narration presents him as wanting both to control and to punish her, while he spreads salacious rumours in the meantime.

Effects on Sunday and Those Around Her

Pinnegar’s harassment reaches beyond direct encounters. Verity Lockett tells Lavinia that he has often been seen near Biddy Spooner’s home and has spread malicious rumours about Sunday’s virtue. The rumours have consequences: men proposition Sunday and behave disrespectfully toward her when she goes out. His presence also frightens Nell, whom Sunday cares for and wants to protect. Sunday’s growing vigilance is therefore part of a wider effort to keep the household safe, not merely a private response to being approached.

At Whittleford Lodge, Pinnegar sometimes lurks nearby without coming to the door. Nell becomes upset when she sees him watching the household’s comings and goings. Biddy Spooner and the others recognize the limits of their recourse: they cannot summon a constable simply because Pinnegar is passing by. Jacob sometimes sends him away and receives abuse in return, though Pinnegar does not threaten him with violence. This contrast sharpens Sunday’s predicament. The danger is persistent enough to unsettle the household, but his presence can be difficult to challenge through ordinary means.

End of the Threat

Pinnegar’s pursuit ends only after his death. When Miss Frost abducts Sunday, she reveals that she killed him the previous night, and also confesses to killing Daisy. Her explanation exposes the distorted jealousy behind the attack: she had watched Sunday since the workhouse and believed Sunday had taken Pinnegar from her. Miss Frost’s accusation shows that Sunday has been made the focus of a possessive rivalry she neither sought nor controlled. Police constables arrive and arrest Miss Frost before she can kill Sunday.

Pinnegar’s death removes him as a direct threat, but it does not undo the months of watching, intimidation, and rumour. His harassment has repeatedly forced Sunday to measure every outing against the possibility of meeting him, while her fear has remained partly hidden so as not to burden Daisy or alarm the household. The contrast between her outward defiance and inward trembling defines this state: she refuses to yield her movements or dignity to Pinnegar, but the threat he sustains is real, shared by those around her, and ended only through a separate act of violence.