Pinnegar’s harassment and intimidation of Sunday

Albert Pinnegar’s harassment and intimidation of Sunday Small turns his former authority over vulnerable girls into a continuing campaign of retaliation. After Sunday helps expose his conduct at the workhouse, he confronts her in public, threatens vengeance, tracks her routine, and spreads sexualized rumors about her. Her resistance is forceful, but the recurring encounters show that leaving the institution does not immediately free her from the reach of its former master.

From public confrontation to a threat

At a Christmas market, Sunday and Daisy Branning are looking at muffs and mittens when they spot Pinnegar across the road, leaning on a broom. His street-sweeping work and shabby appearance sharply contrast with the fashionable clothes he once wore at the workhouse. Daisy draws close to Sunday, visibly shaken; Sunday tells her to ignore him, pays for the fingerless gloves she has chosen, and refuses to back down when Pinnegar approaches.

Pinnegar blames Sunday for his downfall and says he will make her pay. She answers that he brought it on himself by abusing a position of trust. The exchange turns his grievance into an explicit threat: he vows vengeance against them all and warns Sunday to remember that he knows where she lives. The stall-holder’s attention makes the encounter public, but it does not make Sunday feel safe. She and Daisy leave badly shaken, though Sunday refuses to show how frightened she is.

This confrontation takes place against the consequences of Sunday’s earlier testimony. When Lady Huntley asks whether Pinnegar was a kind master, Sunday hesitates, then speaks about what happened to her friend Cissie Burns. She explains that Pinnegar singled Cissie out for work in his office, that Cissie became pregnant, and that Miss Frost’s promise of a safe destination proved false when an asylum carriage arrived. Cissie was taken to Hatter’s Hall, and Sunday says she never heard from her again. The account breaks into a sob. Sunday’s testimony makes clear why Pinnegar’s accusation against her carries more than personal hostility: he is retaliating against someone who has spoken about the harm he caused and the institution that failed to protect Cissie.

A recurring presence at the market

The first confrontation does not end Pinnegar’s pursuit. By January, Sunday still goes to the market each Wednesday, but the outings have become something to dread. She repeatedly sees Pinnegar waiting for her, sometimes with two men. She conceals these encounters from the household at Whittleford Lodge because Daisy is already jumpy after the killing of the chickens, and Sunday does not want to distress her further.

On one Wednesday, Pinnegar appears before Sunday has visited more than half a dozen stalls. He offers to take her for a hot meal; Sunday rejects him and tries to pass, but two of his men block her way. She tells him to leave her alone and accuses him of egging the household’s windows and killing its fowl. Pinnegar laughs off the accusation, denies responsibility, and boasts that he knows what they are doing. The encounter combines intimidation with a display of surveillance: he can appear in Sunday’s path, bring men to obstruct her, and suggest that their movements are known to him.

His manner shifts between overt menace and false civility. At the Christmas market, he leers at Daisy’s pregnant stomach while Sunday stands protectively beside her; in January, he presents his invitation as concern for Sunday’s comfort. The contrast does not soften the threat. His attention to Daisy and his obstruction of Sunday make the ordinary work of shopping feel exposed to his interference.

Rumors and intrusion at home

Pinnegar’s harassment extends beyond face-to-face encounters. When Cissie visits the household with news, she also warns Biddy Spooner that people are spreading rumors that Sunday is sexually available to various men. Cissie says she knows the story is untrue and fears it will upset Sunday; she and Biddy both suspect Pinnegar of starting it. The rumors repeat the kind of sexual blame used against Cissie, redirecting suspicion from the former master’s conduct onto the girls he harmed or tried to silence.

The narrative later confirms that Pinnegar is taking pleasure in spreading salacious stories. He has Sunday’s weekly routine under observation, with two men watching her movements, and waits in the shadows of a shop doorway as she shops. Sunday remains unaware of the immediate surveillance when she crosses Cock and Bear Bridge on her way home. The distance between what she knows and what the reader is told creates a sustained threat: her routine appears ordinary to her, while Pinnegar has been learning where and when to find her.

He also comes to the household’s front door under the pretext of asking whether there are eggs for sale. Nell recognizes him as the former workhouse master and hurries inside. When Biddy confronts him and tells him not to return, he tries to turn the encounter against Sunday, calling her sexually degrading names and attacking her reputation. Biddy refuses his story and orders him away. Sunday and Nell have overheard the exchange; Sunday, pale with shock, says the accusations are untrue and fears that Pinnegar will never leave her alone. Biddy assures her that she will intervene and dismisses him as a liar. The household offers immediate solidarity, but the scene shows that he can bring his campaign right to its door.

Intimidation, solidarity, and narrative significance

Pinnegar’s conduct is not limited to a single threat or a single place. He uses public confrontations, associates who obstruct Sunday, covert watching, household intrusion, and rumors to keep pressure on her after his workhouse authority has ended. His stated grievance—that Sunday is responsible for his position—reverses the moral responsibility established by her testimony: he casts himself as the injured party while continuing to target the young woman who challenged him.

Sunday answers in different ways according to the danger around her. In the market she names his abuse of trust and refuses his invitation; when he approaches with men, she warns him to keep away from the household and its animals. At home she does not conceal her distress after hearing his slander. Daisy’s fear and Sunday’s decision not to burden her further also reveal the cost of the harassment beyond the direct encounters: Pinnegar’s return unsettles the fragile security the young women have built.

The protection offered by Biddy and the household counters his effort to isolate and discredit Sunday. Their belief in her, and Sunday’s earlier willingness to speak for Cissie, establish a pattern of women defending one another against an authority figure who relies on shame and intimidation. Yet the narrative does not present that solidarity as an instant solution. Pinnegar continues to watch, appear, and circulate lies; Sunday’s liberation from the workhouse is therefore real but incomplete, and her ordinary journeys remain shadowed by the man she helped expose.