Factual error: Mrs. Harrison travels to a random, remote country mansion (kilometers away from any civilization), meets a woman who is not her pupil, forcibly takes her measurements, insults her, and slaps her! Nobody in the right mind would do that because they know they would be murdered, harmed, or handed over to the police for trespassing, assault, and battery. (Such outcomes are recurrently portrayed in Sherlock Holmes stories.) Schoolmistresses did use corporal punishment but only on their pupils and within the bounds of school, where they have relative safety. To make matter worse, Mycroft warns Mrs. Harrison in advance. He describes Enola as "unbroken", "a wild and dangerous woman", "a wild child." (Indeed she is; she beats people during the rest of the film. How did Mrs. Harrison escape unscathed?). (00:11:43 - 00:13:46)
Suggested correction: How was she trespassing or going to a 'random' mansion? Mycroft, who owns the mansion and is Enola's guardian, specifically invited her there and enrolled Enola as Mrs. Harrison's pupil. Slapping Enola was out of line (Mrs. Harrison seems to immediately regret it), but not unheard of. And Enola still holds out hope that Mycroft will change his mind. Fighting Mrs. Harrison would just prove to him that she needs discipline. She'd rather play it safe and escape before being sent to school.
The slap wasn't just out of line; in the real-world 19th-century England, it was defensible by death. Enola could kill all three, call the police, and allege killing trespassers. The worst verdict an inquest could return was "death due to misadventure." Or Enola could just kill all three and nobody would be the wiser. Read the original Sherlock Holmes books to find out why. Things didn't happen as they they'd happen in real-life... because the director said so.
Except it would be incredibly easy to prove that they'd been there at Mycroft's (the homeowner's) invitation, and Sherlock and the housekeeper also knew they were guests. It would also seem rather out of character for Enola to kill a teacher, let alone a couple of innocent dressmakers, don't you think?
Proof of Mycroft's invitation merely changes the inquest's verdict from "lawful killing" to "death by misadventure." It is out of character for a real-world Ms. Harrison, the epitome of decorum, to slap someone outside the school without fear of reprisal. (Does she have no self-preservation instinct?) It is out of character for a real-world Mycroft, an upper-class mansion owner, not to kill Ms. Harrison in defense of his honor. The Mycroft of this film is a 21st-century American redneck.
He's a redneck because his first response wasn't to kill a woman? It's a moot point. Enola never told anyone she'd been slapped.
Mycroft Holmes, the smartest man in the world, must have deduced something was wrong at point 13:53 when he saw the distressed Enola. After all, his inferior brother Sherlock has made more impressive deductions. And yes, the Englanders of that era could be deadly when somebody stepped out of bounds. Most importantly, you've stopped defending the original mistake and are now content to attack me for whatever reason. I think we're done here.
