Night Watch: A Novel

Dr. Story meets with Eliza, and he is attracted to her. They ask each other direct questions, and Story notes how Eliza avoids many questions about her childhood. Story suspects that Janet is not her real name and that she remembers more than she tells him. He stares at her when she plays the harp at Story’s parties, and he moves their armchairs close together for their meetings. He reveals that his mother married into the Story family, naming Story the inverse of his successful uncle, Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride. Dr. Kirkbride married one of his patients and had many children, to which Eliza says she does not want children.

In Pennsylvania, Story courted a Quaker woman, but his engagement failed. He began an affair with a married woman, followed by an affair with a widow. When he took charge of the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum, he was the youngest doctor to be given the post. He hopes that Eliza will recover, convert to become a Quaker, and become his wife. Eliza asks for ConaLee to join them in their carriage ride, and Story accepts.