I had not been given it in years.

And under it, the truth came out.

Chapter 5 — The Offer

The next morning, Arthur asked to speak with me alone, and in the calm, level voice of a man proposing a business arrangement, he made me an offer that I first took to be the raving of a mind that had begun to slip.

“Marry me,” he said.

I must have stared at him as though he had spoken in another language.

“Marry me,” he repeated, unhurried.