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amorous relationship.
Tucker leaps to his feet, furious this time. Objection!
Miss Biddeford s moral character is a relevant issue, Sears says
quietly, as though he has anticipated Tucker s consternation.
Your Honor, in describing Miss Biddeford s interactions with
Averill Hardy as a relationship, and, moreover, an amorous one,
counsel is mischaracterizing the witness s testimony, says Tucker
heatedly. Miss Biddeford was molested by Mr. Hardy not the
other way around.
Do we not agree that this is a matter Miss Biddeford might clar-
ify for us herself? Sears asks.
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Yes, the court agrees, says Judge Littlefield. In future, Mr.
Sears, you will put appropriate boundaries around your questions.
Yes, Your Honor, I shall.
Sears bends a finger under his nose as if lost for a time in deep
thought. Then he turns suddenly in Olympia s direction.
Miss Biddeford, when did your sexual relations with Dr. Haskell
begin?
The bluntness of the question not only stuns Olympia but also
seems to startle Tucker, who looks sharply up from his notes. Nei-
ther has prepared for such a frontal attack. Despite Olympia s best
intentions, and Tucker s advice, Olympia glances down into her lap.
My God, she thinks, I cannot have my father listen to this. I cannot pos-
sibly answer these questions in front of him. She looks up and silently
implores Tucker to do something.
Tucker, either seeing the desperation on Olympia s face or having
similar thoughts of his own, stands. Your Honor, counsel for the re-
lator requests that Mr. Phillip Biddeford, the relator s father, who
has just arrived, be removed from the courtroom during this sensi-
tive questioning of his daughter.
Littlefield nods. Bailiff, please show Mr. Biddeford to another
room, where he can await a summons or Judge Littlefield checks
his pocket watch a recess.
Olympia watches as her father is led away, and it seems to her that
he has to lean on the bailiff s arm for support. Sears returns his at-
tention to Olympia.
The question, once again, is, When did your sexual relations
with Dr. Haskell begin?
On July fourteenth, 1899.
And what was the nature of these sexual relations?
Objection, Your Honor, says Tucker from his seat. Does the
witness have to answer this abhorrent question?
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Objection sustained, Littlefield says. Mr. Sears, the court will
not countenance such questioning of the witness.
Miss Biddeford, Sears says, where did you meet Dr. Haskell for
the purpose of this sexual congress?
At his hotel.
This would be the Highland Hotel of Fortune s Rocks?
Yes.
You went to his room?
Yes.
This is a room he occasionally shared with his wife when she
came to visit on weekends?
I believe so, Olympia says, wondering how Sears can possibly
know such facts.
Would it be accurate to say you initiated these relations?
Olympia thinks a moment. It is a question she has long pondered
herself. Yes, she says finally.
And you were aware Dr. Haskell had a wife and children?
Yes.
You had, in fact, met this wife and children and had dealings
with them?
Yes.
They were, indeed, guests at your house from time to time?
Yes.
On how many occasions did you engage in sexual congress with
Dr. Haskell?
I do not know.
More than a dozen?
Possibly.
Did you always go to the hotel?
No.
Where else did you go?
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To a building site.
To a building site? Sears asks incredulously. He turns away from
Olympia and glances at Albertine and Telesphore.
Dr. Haskell was building a cottage, Olympia adds.
At Fortune s Rocks?
Yes.
And you engaged in sexual congress with him in this half-built
cottage? Sears asks.
I have already said that I did.
The tension of Sears s inquisition is producing an excruciating
headache at the back of Olympia s neck. For how long will these ter-
rible questions go on?
Miss Biddeford, at the time you were engaging in these repre-
hensible acts, did you consider your actions wrong?
I considered it wrong to harm Catherine Haskell, she says. I
did not consider it wrong to love John Haskell.
Catherine Haskell being Dr. Haskell s wife?
Yes.
Do you now consider your conduct during that time to have
been sinful?
No, I do not.
Truly, Miss Biddeford? Do you attend church services?
I have done so.
When was the last time you attended a church service?
Last June, she says.
I see. That would be eight months ago. Will you, if you are given
custody of the boy, then consider your conduct sinful?
Your Honor, says Tucker, again on his feet. The witness cannot
know how she will feel at some future date.
Mr. Sears.
Let me put the question another way, Your Honor. Miss Bidde-
ford, how will you explain the circumstances of your son s birth to
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him when he is of an age to understand such things if, indeed,
such unnatural acts can ever be understood?
I shall explain them in the way I would hope Albertine Bolduc
would explain them. That is to say, I shall tell my son the truth.
Shaking her head, Albertine whispers to her husband.
Miss Biddeford, have you ever contacted the child?
No.
Have you shown any interest in his welfare?
I have put this petition forward.
In any other way?
I have had interest in the boy ever since he was born.
Have you indicated any such interest to any other person prior
to moving to Fortune s Rocks in July of last year?
No.
Have you ever met the child?
No.
Miss Biddeford, do you love John Haskell still?
The question is swift and clean, a blade slicing to the bone. But
Olympia does not hesitate in her answer. Yes, she says at once, and
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