Miss Leonard worked for more than twenty years as secretary to Percival Lowell. How far and how often she and her boss ventured beyond their professional roles is a subject of enduring curiosity.

Most historians acknowledge that their association was intimate as well as professional; some cite as evidence the “secret passage” built into the Baronial Mansion during its 1902 expansion, but whether this addition was designed for convenience or hanky-panky is not known.

We can confidently say that Miss Leonard adored Percival Lowell; she kept a photo of him on her desk, defended him against astronomical naysayers and stayed mostly by his side during his prolonged illness and recovery. To some degree Miss Leonard’s deep affection for Percival was reciprocal, although he certainly was involved with other women in the years before his 1908 marriage.

But Miss Leonard may have had a wandering eye as well. “Harry – single or married?” she queries in a 1903 letter to astronomer V.M. Slipher, suggesting a possible infatuation with handyman Harry Hussey.

Whether a Wrexie-Harry flirtation, or more, is connected to the following curious sequence of events is not known: in spring of 1904, Lowell arranges ocean passage for a woman whom Hussey had known in England; in May she arrives in Flagstaff, and she and Harry are married.

Harry Hussey and his new wife on the veranda of the Baronial Mansion

Miss Leonard immediately takes unpaid leave for 10 weeks – it was highly unusual for her to go away for so long a time. At almost the same time Harry tries to resign, but is talked into staying with the promise of a raise and a cozy cottage Lowell orders built for the newlyweds. Miss Leonard returns at the end of September, offering no explanation about where she’s been. The record does not reveal any further details about that pivotal summer. 

Then, four years later, at the age of 53, Lowell suddenly marries a Boston acquaintance, Constance Savage Keith – a woman he’d described as “ugly” in his private journal. Miss Leonard, caught unaware, takes a three-week vacation “to clear my head,” she writes to a friend.

Even after his marriage, Lowell apparently continued to encourage and reward the attentions of Miss Leonard, who remained his secretary and traveled frequently with him on business. 

Miss Leonard never married.