Sunday Small’s departure from Nuneaton Union Workhouse is both a narrow escape from Albert Pinnegar and a passage into a new household. Lady Lavinia Huntley’s arrival interrupts Pinnegar’s attempt to isolate Sunday; the signed papers take her out of the institution and into work with Biddy Spooner. The move also gives Sunday room to describe the hunger, punishment and abuse she has witnessed, turning a personal change of circumstance into testimony about the workhouse.

Life inside the workhouse

Nuneaton Union Workhouse divided its residents by sex: women, boys, girls and men occupied separate sections. Work organized daily life and sorted residents into different forms of labor. Some men and stronger boys picked oakum, teasing fibres from old hemp ropes for sale to shipbuilders; others crushed bones delivered from the local slaughterhouse, while a more fortunate group worked in the gardens. Women and girls sewed uniforms, made or repaired clothing for parish residents, cooked, cleaned or labored in the laundry. Families rarely came together except on Sundays, and Sunday had seen how separation could devastate them.

Food and discipline made the institution’s hierarchy visible. The children ate watery milk, grey bread and porridge, while staff at the top table had bacon and eggs. Sunday accepted kitchen duty, despite the soreness in her hands from earlier scrubbing, partly because the warm water made it preferable to outdoor work. Miss Frost assigned duties and inspected the dormitories; elsewhere, her split cane stood for the threat of punishment. When Lady Lavinia later asked whether the children had been adequately fed, Sunday described meals of dry bread and greasy porridge, thin vegetable soup and gristly meat, served only occasionally.

The cellar punishment room made discipline more than a threat. Sunday told Lady Lavinia that it contained only a bucket, with no bed or blanket, and was dark, cold and damp, with mice, rats and spiders. Sunday had once spent three days there without food or drink; Verity Lockett eventually found her so weak that she needed a night in the sickbay. She also recalled two little girls who had been locked away and never seen again. Miss Frost said they had died of influenza, but Sunday could not remember anyone saying they had received a proper funeral.

The interrupted departure

On the day Sunday was due to leave, Miss Frost found her with Albert Pinnegar behind a locked door. Pinnegar claimed he had shut it to give them privacy while handing over Sunday’s possessions. Sunday was shaking, but answered that she was ready when Miss Frost asked. Pinnegar’s anger after she left, and his resolve to pursue her by any means, reveal that the danger had not ended simply because she was about to go.

Lady Lavinia had arrived early. She told Sunday that the necessary forms had been signed and led her out. Miss Frost escorted them to the door and said goodbye; Sunday returned the farewell with dignity. The narration makes clear that Miss Frost had unknowingly saved Sunday from being raped by interrupting Pinnegar’s attempt. Once outside, Sunday paused at the door, struggling to believe her luck, then told Lady Lavinia she was ready to begin her new life. The closed workhouse door marks a sharp change in immediate safety, though Pinnegar’s anger foreshadows that leaving the institution would not at once remove his hostility.

A new household, and a witness

At Biddy Spooner’s home, Sunday’s change of address becomes an opportunity to speak openly. With Biddy Spooner’s permission, she sits beside Lady Lavinia, who explains that the guardians contribute money intended to feed the residents well and asks whether Sunday had actually been well fed. No longer living under the workhouse’s authority, Sunday decides she has nothing to lose by telling the truth. She hopes that an honest account might improve conditions for those still inside.

Asked whether Albert Pinnegar had been a kind master, Sunday first shows a moment of panic, then speaks about Cissie Burns. She recounts that Pinnegar had drawn Cissie into his office, that Cissie feared him, and that he forced her; after Cissie became sick and suspected she was pregnant, Miss Frost promised that she and the baby would be cared for somewhere pleasant. Instead, on the day Cissie was to leave, a carriage from Hatter’s Hall arrived to take her to the asylum. Cissie recognized it, fought against being taken and accused Pinnegar, but Sunday had never heard from her afterward. Lady Lavinia calls the allegation serious and asks whether Sunday believes Cissie was telling the truth; the question underlines the risk involved in making such an accusation, even after Sunday has escaped the workhouse.

Sunday’s testimony helps bring the institution’s treatment of its residents into view beyond its own walls. Later, Verity Lockett reports that meals have improved, the atmosphere is better and the fear and bullying have gone. A new matron has snapped Miss Frost’s split cane and thrown it away; Verity also proposes better bedding, judging the existing blankets inadequate. These improvements are presented as continuing work rather than a completed reform, but they contrast with the conditions Sunday describes. Her placement with Biddy Spooner therefore carries two consequences: it gives her a new start, and it gives her a safer position from which to speak about those who remain behind.