He was surprised - or a little startled, at least - that he had come to enjoy speaking to someone at all, length of the acquaintance quite aside. There were people he'd known far longer than four years with whom he still exchanged no more than frigid pleasantries in the corridors. "I'm doomed to disappoint where secrets are concerned, as badly as with gossip. You can't be any better, though. People who write books must not have many secrets they've not seen fit to use."