Freddie Nesbitt and Isobel McCordle

Nowhere through out the film they say it verbally, but from some of their gestures or sarcastic comments we finds out that she was pregnant and had the baby aborted. Now he wants her to persuade her father to hire him or he would tell her father about his daughter's little adventure. When McCordle doesn't accept it she gives him a cheque which his wife makes him destroy it....


I hope it answers your question

I had the same question on my 4th(!) watching of this.

There was some scene where Isobel seems to be talking (very indirectly) something about "her consequences" relative to pregnancy. It was a brief exchange with others around, but I don't think that had added up to me in previous watchings.

What I'm surprised about is how Isobel was able to get an abortion (then quite illegal in the UK) without the aid of someone older/richer/more power/connected. I don't doubt that Isobel *could* get an abortion, but that it would cost a tidy sum and require a doctor with some level of moral flexibility and a certain loyalty or at least fear of the family's influence. Doctors generally were much more likely to be on a more level social playing field with aristocrats than almost any other profession (I'd wager it was a common profession for 2nd or 3rd sons who could at best expect an allowance and not an inheritance).

So how Isobel was able to get an abortion without her mom or dad finding out. It's probably a not unreasonable bet mom faced a similar situation given her willingness to risk the scandal of crossing the boundaries of class and marital status to shag a "servant". Dad is of course dialed into the servant gossip pipeline and it seems unlikely Isobel and Freddy would get away with a sexual affair without the servants chattering about it. Even missing a period in that era was something a maid might have spotted.