( Edmund lets the silence breathe between them, letting it shroud the sharpest edges of his rage. It will be a long while before that anger fades — perhaps it never will. For now, muting it temporarily is all he can do. )

Let's leave. ( The words leave him in a rush, as jumbled as the thoughts that had prompted them. Now that he's broken his silence, he can't stop the torrent. ) We've only to sell the house; we'll let the solicitors tidy up the rest of our affairs. Sod my degree, sod your preening American friends, and sod this entire country — bloody hell, we've nothing to lose! ( He hasn't realised what he's doing, but he's gripping her wrist, so tightly that it must be uncomfortable. There's something frenetic and wild in his eyes; the kind of passion that he'd never let himself show before his world turned itself inside out. ) There's a world out there that we've never seen — let's go. You and I, two practical people who've forgotten what practicality is. Sod it all, by jove!