Vienna, 13 May 1870
Claire left the library on a warm spring day after having finished her final paper, which was on curing diseases of the mind through sympathetic conversation. She would be presenting it to the class the following week, but all she needed to do was some minor tweaking.
I did it! Claire the hysteric was going to become Doctor McPhee. She could leave that part of her life behind her and start her new one, thanks to a sympathetic ear in the school administration, whom Claire had come to find had a daughter in treatment in Paris. Claire was a symbol of hope to all parents whose children languished in asylums that their fates could change, that they could be healed and go on to lives of normalcy and distinction.
Or maybe Martine had bent an ear or two for her. His parents
