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By Root 753 0

’s face, though not fine, are sharply delineated. It is a face one reads immediately, and thus immediately Olympia can see that Albertine Bolduc is angry. But mixed with the anger is also curiosity. Is she searching for a likeness in Olympia’s face? Or a reason for this suit? Or an indication of Olympia’s resolve? Albertine’s thick dark hair begins low on her brow, and there is perhaps the merest hint of a mustache. Her lips and cheeks are red — by nature, Olympia is certain, and not with paint. She has on a black woolen suit, either inexpertly tailored or borrowed from another woman. Despite her ill-fitting garments, Albertine holds herself with good posture, the ruffles of her collar barely touching her chin. Her husband, who sits just beyond her, suddenly leans forward to see what it is his wife stares at so intently. He seems then to remember his cloth cap and removes it. His mustaches are damp, his cheeks coarsened by the weather. He says a word to his wife, and when she answers him, she hardly moves her mouth, shocked perhaps into rigidity.

A stout balding man with side whiskers and a monocle takes his place next to Albertine, blocking Olympia’s view. He sets a leather case on the table in front of him. And then before Olympia can absorb further the presence of her adversaries, the bailiff is announcing the judge.

“All rise for presiding Judge Levi Littlefield.”

The judge enters the chamber with a vigorous sweep of his robes. He is short and slight and sandy-haired, with no beard or mustaches or spectacles, and he looks considerably younger than Olympia has expected. Only his robes lend the man authority, as do those of a minister.

“He seems so young,” Olympia says to Tucker when they sit. “He is not as young as he appears,” Tucker says. “And do not let his looks fool you. He is quite shrewd and tough.”

“Mr. Payson Tucker,” says Judge Littlefield, reviewing the documents laid out in front of him, “as counsel for the relator, you have a matter to put before the court.”

Tucker stands and approaches a lectern set up between the lawyers’ tables. He is so tall that he has to stoop to read what he has written. He has cut his hair, Olympia notes, and oiled it back from his forehead. Sitting as she is, behind and to the left of him, she can see only a profile. There is a slight tremor in Tucker’s hand. Is it possible this is Tucker’s first case? she wonders. She has never asked.

“I have here a writ of habeas corpus for the body of a male infant child, Pierre Francis Haskell, aged three years, ten months, and thirteen days, currently of Ely Falls, New Hampshire.”

“Yes, Mr. Tucker. Proceed.”

“That Albertine and Telesphore Bolduc of one thirty-seven Alfred Street, Ely Falls, New Hampshire, have for three years and approximately ten months restrained the said child of his liberty. That this restraint of liberty is a result of an unlawful and clandestine removal and retention of the child on fourteen April 1900 from the mother of the child, the relator, Olympia Biddeford. That this unlawful removal was carried out at the direction of the petitioner’s father, Phillip Arthur Biddeford of Boston, Massachusetts, thereby depriving the infant child of his liberty and depriving the said mother of her maternal rights and solace. That on fourteen April 1900, the child was unlawfully delivered unto the care of the father of the infant male, Dr. John Warren Haskell, address unknown. That on fifteen April 1900, said father unlawfully delivered the child into the care of the Orphanage of Saint Andre of Ely Falls, New Hampshire, unlawfully charging them with placing out the child.”

“Mr. Tucker, is the child here?” Littlefield asks, interrupting the lawyer.

“Your Honor,” says Tucker, “the respondents have requested permission to have the child remain with Albertine Bolduc’s parents, who live a block from the courthouse, during this hearing. He will stay with them until the day the judgment will be read, at which time the boy shall be brought to the courthouse.”

“And this is acceptable to you?”

“Yes, sir, it is. We should not like