Boston
Mrs. Kaplan showed Alan into her husband's study. Rabbi Issac Kaplan greeted him, "Welcome, Alan. Would you like tea?"
The two men exchanged small talk until Rachel brought in a tray, and poured cups for both of them.
Then she left, closing the door behind her.
"I am troubled about my marriage and my wife Ella," said Alan. "She ran away from her uncle's house while I was in Vienna. I have asked her to return to Boston, and she refuses. I can't remember any other time when she has refused a request. She always had the sweetest temper. Except when I wanted to sell her horse. After my parents died, we moved from my father's house to Dr. Abramson's house where there was no stable. I had needed a horse and carriage to come into town to work with Dr. Abramson, and would not need one anymore. We were trying to save money so that I could study in Vienna. She proposed that she would keep her horse only if she could find stabling without cost. She arranged to stable her horse at the riding academy in exchange for providing veterinary care for all of the horses there. Dr. Abramson advised me at the time that I should not allow her to keep her horse, that I needed to keep her dependent. I guess he was right. She could not have run away as easily without her horse."
"Did Mrs. Coatsworth give you any explanation for leaving her uncle's house?" asked Rabbi Issac.
"She said that her uncle expected her to replace their hired servant without pay. She said that keeping house for Dr. Abramson had been acceptable only because she was taking care of her husband by doing so," replied Alan. "Hmm, maybe that was why she insisted that the impropriety of a married woman living without her husband in a single man's house made it impossible to consider staying in his house while I was gone. Dr. Abramson did treat her like a servant. Although she never spoke a word of complaint, not even when he brought six guests home to dinner with no advance notice. As I remember, she gave them a good dinner, and served pea soup for the rest of the week. When Dr. Abramson complained at the third pea soup dinner, she pointed out that his guests had eaten all of the food she had purchased for the week, and he had not given her any extra money to replenish the supplies. He was careful to provide extra money and advance notice before having dinner parties after that."
"Did she give any reason for refusing to return to Boston?"
"She said that she had taken on responsibilities, based on my agreement to go to El Paso when I returned to the United States, that she was not willing to abandon."
"Had you agreed to go to El Paso?"
"Yes," admitted Alan reluctantly. "I was afraid that she would turn her back on me if I were too stubborn in my answers to her letters. She did make settling in El Paso sound inviting. But when I got back, Dr. Abramson had gone to a great deal of effort to set up this lecturer position for me at the medical school, and I didn't want to offend him by turning it down. I owe him a great deal because he helped me get my career started. Dr. Abramson advised me to threaten her with divorce if she won't return, and implied that I might want to divorce her because of her behavior while she's been out west."
"Do you have any reason to suspect her of infidelity?"
"Nothing in her letters ever gave any suggestion of attachment to any other man, but how could a woman pay her own way without help?"
"Did she write often?"
"She wrote a letter every week, usually a very thick letter, with one page devoted to personal matters and the rest being accounts of the activities of the 'posse' she was with. Ella never said much about what she herself did for the posse, other than cooking and patching up wounded. Dr. Abramson thinks those accounts are fictional."
"I happen to have some information from El Paso," said Rabbi Issac, pulling a folder out of a desk drawer. "Mrs. Coatsworth named me as a character reference when she joined the congregation there, and Rabbi Jacob Cohen wrote to ask. We have exchanged several letters since then. He thinks very highly of her, and credits her with saving his wife when she delivered twin sons last year. Local opinions about the people she stays with are mixed. Members of the Longknife family do not try to ingratiate themselves with anyone. Marshall Ross is mostly liked and respected, except by people who disapproved of him marrying a saloon owner."
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