Victor came out of his study at noon on Wednesday.
Not for a tray or a brief corridor exchange with his lawyers. He came out fully, dressed in the same suit he had worn for two days, which was visible from the slight change in its quality, the imperceptible loosening that expensive fabric underwent after extended wear, and he walked down the main staircase and into the dining room and stood at the head of the table in the particular posture of a man who had reached the end of a deliberation and had arrived at a position.
He had asked Margaret to gather the family at noon. Margaret had told me at ten-thirty with the neutral delivery of someone executing an instruction they did not yet understand. I had texted Lillian and she had appeared at my door at eleven forty-five with the expression
