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thing.
My child was stolen from me, Olympia says. I have suffered
greatly with this loss. I have thought about my son every single day
since his birth and have wanted him with me. But until recently, I
was not of an age nor was I in the proper circumstances to petition
for the child s return to me. Nor did I even know where he was, as
this knowledge was kept from me all these years.
Tucker nods encouragingly. And it occurs to Olympia then that
something is profoundly missing from these proceedings. The boy
himself. Her son. Though she would not wish him here, would not
wish him to have to listen to any of this testimony, the event seems
patently hollow without him.
But I do not seek to have the child returned to me simply be-
cause I wish to have my property restored, Olympia says. No, I
believe that I shall be a good and loving mother for the boy, that I
can offer the boy certain advantages in terms of comfort and educa-
tion that are not normally available to all children.
The intensity of Albertine Bolduc s angry stare is almost more
than Olympia can bear. She tries to focus only on Tucker s face, his
spectacles.
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Mr. Tucker, my heart aches for the loss of my son, Olympia says
with unfeigned passion. Our separation has been unnatural and
painful. I pray that the court will redress the terrible wrong that has
been done both to me and to the boy and that we will one day be re-
united, as God and Nature have meant us to be.
Albertine Bolduc closes her eyes. Telesphore, who still has his arm
around his wife, glares at Olympia with what can only be hatred.
Tucker stands motionless, allowing Olympia s words to settle over
the courtroom.
No further questions, Your Honor, Tucker says, taking a seat.
And then Addison Sears is standing. Your Honor, I have some
questions I should like to put to the relator.
Yes, Mr. Sears, proceed.
The portly Mr. Sears takes his time shuffling his notes as he ap-
proaches Olympia. It is so cold in the chamber that for a brief mo-
ment, Olympia can see the lawyer s breath.
Good morning, Miss Biddeford, Sears says, not even looking at
her, but rather at his notes.
Good morning, she says in a low voice.
Sears glances sharply up at her. I think you will need to speak up,
Miss Biddeford, or the court will not be able to hear you.
And immediately, she understands that he is setting a pattern of
scolding, of chastising the child. She raises her chin. Good morn-
ing, she repeats in a louder and clearer voice.
Miss Biddeford, are you or have you ever been married?
No.
And if you were to receive custody of the boy, you would, of
necessity, be forced to care for him as an unwed mother. Is this not
true?
Yes, she says simply.
Miss Biddeford, you have told the court that before arriving at
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Fortune s Rocks you were at school. But is it not true that directly
before coming to Fortune s Rocks, you were in fact in the employ of
Averill Hardy of Tetbury, Massachusetts, and not, as you have said,
at the Hastings School for Girls?
The deliberate misnaming of the school is not lost on Olympia,
nor, she imagines, on the judge. Yes, she says, that is true. But as
it was a summer work-study program administered by the Hastings
Seminary for Females, it was considered part of my education at the
seminary. It took place under the auspices of the staff there.
Yes, quite, says Sears. You were employed as governess to Mr.
Hardy s three sons, is that not correct?
Yes.
And is it not true that on twelve July of last year you abandoned
this post? That you left these three boys without a tutor and did not
even tell them you were leaving?
The circumstances were such that . . .
Did you not in fact leave Mr. Hardy s employ under suspicious
circumstances?
Your Honor. Tucker is standing. Mr. Sears is not allowing the
witness to finish her answer.
Mr. Sears.
Addison Sears makes a show of bowing slightly to the judge.
When he turns back to Olympia, he is smiling. I apologize for my
small interruption, Miss Biddeford. Doubtless I am too eager to dis-
cover the truth. Please, by all means, finish your answer.
But Olympia cannot finish her answer. For while Tucker and
Sears have been sparring, the bailiff has responded to a knock on the
courtroom door and has opened it. Phillip Biddeford, his overcoat
dusted with snow, his bowler in his hand, stands at the threshold.
He seems flustered, disturbed by his surroundings, as if unable
to read them immediately. And then he catches sight of his daughter
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in the witness box with the judge towering over her, and this sight
must appear to him so unnatural, so wrong, that he pales and actually
brings a hand to his chest. Olympia leans forward as if she would go
to him, realizing only then how utterly confining the witness box is, a
small and temporary prison. She cannot go to her father, nor can she
even speak to him. And worse, she will have to continue to answer
Sears s hideous questions with her father in the room.
The bailiff leads Mr. Biddeford to a bench. Tucker, who has
leaned around in his seat in an unsuccessful effort to signal to Bid-
deford, turns back again to Olympia.
But it is Sears who has the floor.
Please, Miss Biddeford. I believe the question was: Did you not
abandon these three boys with no explanation and without even
bidding them farewell?
Instinctively, Olympia reaches for the locket inside her blouse and
touches it through the cloth. Mr. Hardy made unwanted and im-
proper advances toward me, and I thought it prudent, for my own
personal safety, to leave at once. It was hardly a situation I could ex-
plain to Mr. Hardy s three sons.
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