"You mustn't leave Lahardane," she said, "until you have finished Vanity Fair."
"I haven't begun it yet."
"When you've finished it we must talk about it. And that will take time, too."
Sometimes when they walked, the backs of their hands brushed for a moment, or their palms met and were grasped as the stepping stones were crossed. There was a stone wall that was difficult and there was closeness then too.
"There are six hundred and fourty-two pages," she said.