Chapter length redux

[igenlode]

I've been plodding through the typing of Chapter 4 of Hertha (deciding to leave out one paragraph altogther, because it was just too much explanation) and wondering all over again if it should not be split up on the grounds of length alone; it contains multiple shortish scenes, which is one reason why it is so long, and could relatively easily be split. However, looking back at my original chapter-counting post, I see that I came to the eventual conclusion that the chapter is only just over 5,000 words in total and that this was acceptable -- I was panicking because I've already typed 4,500 and have another lengthy backstory chunk of six pages or so to go. But the marks from my manual word count are still discernible on the pages and do correspond almost exactly with the computer's version up to this point, so presumably the rest of the chapter really is that sprawly.
And I know some of the later chapters are pretty long too, so it's mainly a matter of maintaining consistency.

(Also, I found it hard enough in the first place to come up with a relevant chapter title -- given the relatively small amount of direct dialogue in this chapter, and the fact that I've decided on a policy of 'mis-quotes'! -- and the quote I did decide to use happens to be situated right near the end, so if I split it I'll have to change the title :-p)