All spoilers are unmarked!
The original books
- Hetty being locked up in the 'Punishment Room' as a child, and having to endure her crying for hours.
- The fact that five-year-olds are taken from their foster homes, brought to the hospital, told to "say goodbye" and never see their foster families again. Truth in Television, as many real children in Victorian London would have gone through an experience like Hetty's.
- The dying Sarah Barnes crying for her mother.
- Hetty's initial joy when she reunites with Martha at the hospital, only to discover that Martha can barely remember her.
- Ida's death in Hetty's arms.
- Hetty's speech at her foster Father's funeral in Emerald Star, which was so lovely that even her foster sisters were brought to tears:"When I was tired each night, I would curl up on Father's lap and he would tell me a story. He would gather us all around his knee and tell us tales of the lark he'd heard singing that morning, that baby foal out in the fields, the first pink blossoms on the cherry trees.""Father's body is there in the coffin in front of us, but I like to think he's already in heaven, singing along with the lark, petting that foal and walking under the flowering cherry trees."Emerald Star-page 226
- Her speech at Jem's wedding, given the context of their relationship, making it a more bittersweet moment :
"We're gathered here today, family and friends, to celebrate the wedding of dear Jem and his Janet. We were children together. I worshipped my big foster brother and followed him everywhere, plaguing the life out of him. But he was always so kind and patient with me. He even indulged me in our own mock wedding. I ran around in a tattered white nightgown with daisies in my hair, a little five-year-old bride. But today Jem has his real true beautiful bride, my dear friend Janet, who will make him wonderfully happy. This is like a wedding in a fairy tale, and we're sure that the two of you will live happily ever after. Please raise your glasses to Jem and Janet!"Little Stars-page 297 - Hetty breaking down and losing her job after Samson forces himself on her in Maudie's during a show after-party in Little Stars.
The television series
- Monica's death. What happened before is sad enough: she starts off the episode being rejected by Blanche, who used to be friends with her, gets the sole blame for an argument and is consequently punished and the last we see of her before discovering that she has died is of her ripping up the bedsheets in the dormitory in anger. To then learn that she has died suddenly after having a very bad morning is a shock.
- Ida Battersea is thrown out of the Foundling Hospital when Matron learns she's Hetty's biological mother.
Stage play
- Adeline reveals she's just a character at the circus, and her red hair is a wig. When Hetty nearly runs off upset, Adeline calls her back and apologizes. She gently refuses to let Hetty stay with her and pretend to be her daughter because the circus is no place for a child.
- Ida crying Tears of Remorse after her Anger Born of Worry at Hetty for running away. It's revealed she is the girl's mother. She pretty much faced a Sadistic Choice of either trying to raise her child as a single parent with limited resources or give her up for a relatively better life at the hospital, even while knowing about the systematic abuses. Ida apologizes, after revealing who she is to Hetty, that she's not the mother that her daughter wanted.
