The book has gone blank all the way through, which Corvina says is either the end of it or the beginning of something worse.

The door is still shut and the fire is nearly out and the three of them are on the rug with nothing on and nothing left to read.

CorvinaI can put a seal on it. It will keep. Or we can open it in the morning and see what forty pages looks like when it is not dark.

The book waits on the stand. Nobody has decided anything yet.