“Victoria said tonight.

The last day of the month.”

Arthur picked up the red marker and located the date.

“So he calls the very morning the master bill comes due,” he said, “and offers you every surrender he can think of, and asks for only one thing.”

“Which is what?”

“Time.” He circled the date, slowly and all the way around, then laid the marker in the crease of the calendar.

“You gave him until the eighteenth.