Lekha helped Amala with the new clothing, explaining how to drape the pieces of fabric appropriately in order to be sufficiently covered but also to wear them according to tradition. Amala loved the feel of the fabric, and she loved even more the way she felt about herself when she looked in the mirror and observed the transformation.

“Oh, you look so very lovely, memsahib,” Lekha observed with enthusiasm.

“It feels very good,” Amala admitted. “And again . . . you don’t need to call me that.”

“You said it was a lovely word to hear spoken; therefore, I will speak it at least some of the time.”

“Fair enough,” Amala said.

While Lekha helped Amala with her hair—insisting that she do so because it was something she enjoyed doing very much—Amala asked the woman questions about herself. Lekha loved reading very much, and the fact that she’d been given permission to read anything from the library in the house felt like a miracle to her. She also loved England and expressed great humility and gratitude for being given the opportunity to now live in this new country. In that way, Amala understood her completely. They both loved their homeland and could appreciate its beauty, but they had also both observed its many challenges and were glad to live a more peaceful life than any they would have been able to live in India, given their lack of family or money prior to being taken in by such a generous English family. Amala was glad that Lekha had been able to come here with her husband and father-in-law, which meant she had family of her own who shared her racial genetics. In that respect, Amala couldn’t deny some degree of envy. It seemed Lekha had gotten the best of both worlds. Amala would have gladly taken on the work required of Lekha in order to have a fuller life. But that choice was not open to Amala, and she needed to remind herself that she had already come to terms with that.

Amala felt as if she could have talked with Lekha all day, but it was time for lunch, and she hurried off with the promise that they would continue their conversation later. In the dining room, Amala found her parents and Paulina were already seated but had not yet begun to eat. Henry was eating lunch upstairs with Kat, and Amala wondered if the fact that Kat remained in her room so much of the time was due to her pregnancy or the cancer-related pain Henry had told her about.

Paulina and Amala’s parents were very complimentary about Amala’s apparel, and she couldn’t deny how comfortable it was in contrast to all those corsets and petticoats, as Henry had put it.