The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

The next morning, Grandmary asks Samantha and me to stay out from underfoot while Elsa and Mrs. Hawkins finish preparing for Piney Point. When I ask if Samantha needs to pack, she says Elsa handles that. I realize I haven’t seen her do a single chore since I arrived, a servant for everything from bed-making to packing. That must be nice, though a moment later I learn just how it feels myself: Grandmary won’t let me wear bloomers on the train, so Samantha takes me to meet their seamstress, Jessie, who’s altering one of Samantha’s play dresses to fit me.

Samantha leads me up two staircases to the sewing room, where kind Jessie holds up a red-checked dress, turning it this way and that before deciding it just needs lengthening a bit.

Jessie helps me try it on to measure, pins tucked between her lips, and as I turn slowly in a circle, Samantha watches with a smile, probably wishing she could trade places and wear my clothes instead, bloomers every day if she could. After pulling on the heavy dress, pinafore, and three layers of scratchy undergarments on a warm summer day, already starting to sweat, I completely agree with her.