The Auerbach Will by Birmingham Stephen;

Author:Birmingham, Stephen;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Open Road Media

Our

FATHER’S

HOUSE

Fifteen

From the notebooks of Mr. Horace Temple Strong, a dilettante and diarist of the city, who hoped one day—but never did—to weave his jottings into a book to be called, perhaps, “The Many Faces of Chicago”; instead, the Strong manuscripts were presented to the Chicago Public Library many years later, and they repose there to this day:

There is a beautiful young woman of modish dress, appearing to be in her middle twenties, who lately I have begun to notice from my front window on the Drive. She appears in the mornings, at about ten o’clock, more or less, walking northward, toward the Park, and perhaps an hour later she makes the return journey southward. In clement weather, I will occasionally see her pause at a bench and sit for a while, gazing out at the Lake. She is always alone. At first I supposed her to be a common streetwalker, though I wondered why she would choose such an uncommon hour to ply that ancient trade. And the more I observed her, the more I realized that there is nothing in her mien or behavior to suggest invitation, or even to encourage conversation. She does not cast glances at passing strangers, but instead keeps completely to herself, as though wrapped up in solitary revery. She seems, for all her beauty and modishness, utterly friendless in the city.…

Today, I decided to follow my Mystery Woman on her southward journey, to track her to her destination. Keeping a discreet distance behind her, I followed her to the entrance of one of our more fashionable hotels. The doorman, obviously recognizing her, smiled, tipped his cap, and held the door open for her, and she disappeared inside.

I approached the doorman and, feigning a lost acquaintance, inquired of him, “Was that Miss So-and-So?”

No, I was informed, and was told that my Beautiful Stranger was none other than Mrs. Jacob Auerbach, the wife of the man the newspapers are calling “The Mail-Order King.”

Jake had decided that the family should move to a suite of rooms at the Palmer House while the new house in Lake Forest was being built, and this was accomplished early in 1916. This temporary move, he explained, would put him within easy distance from the new Eaton & Cromwell offices on Michigan Avenue, and he also felt that the hotel’s staff would provide additional security for the children, about whom he continued to worry. It had seemed strange to Essie—simply to walk away from the Grand Boulevard house, leaving behind all the furniture, everything they had chosen so carefully eight years ago, but none of it would be needed in the new house. And in the meantime, until new things were chosen, the luxury and anonymity of hotel furniture would suffice. But just before leaving, for memory’s sake, Essie had slipped the key to the front door of 5269 Grand Boulevard into her purse, as her mother had done with the key to the alte heim.

The move to the hotel had left Essie with very little to do, particularly during the day.

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