This is what he has pined after.

Here it is,--the summit, the end, the last page of the third volume." The reader as he closes the book has on his mind a strong conviction, the strongest possible conviction, that among men George is as weak and Dobbin as noble as any that he has met in literature; and that among women Amelia is as true and Becky as vile as any he has encountered.

Of so much he will be conscious.

In addition to this he will unconsciously have found that every page he has read will have been of interest to him.

There has been no padding, no longueurs; every bit will have had its weight with him.