Billy is second in the tub and as he washes his hair, Alice is being put back in her corset and she’s not happy about it… in fact, she puts up a proper fight which sends Mrs Postlethwaite into a rage. She pins Alice over her knee and smacks her bottom very hard with a rubber-soled slipper. Then, as Alice sobs uncontrollably, she laces her back into the corset, pulls it an inch tighter, and fastens the chain around her waist.
Billy can’t help but cry as he witnesses such cruelty being rained down on poor Alice, and he can’t imagine the pain she must be feeling.