diff --git a/emacs/MANUAL.md b/emacs/MANUAL.md
index 5a45a95..5235178 100644
--- a/emacs/MANUAL.md
+++ b/emacs/MANUAL.md
@@ -378,6 +378,8 @@ per line.
 | `S-TAB` / `p` | previous field |
 | `e` | set the field at point |
 | `C-c C-e` | open the value for editing |
+| `C-c C-c` | commit what you changed in it |
+| `C-c C-k` | abandon the edit |
 | `q` | close |
 
 Two things worth knowing, because they are unlike other inspectors.
diff --git a/emacs/flan-inspect.el b/emacs/flan-inspect.el
index d814a1a..2587989 100644
--- a/emacs/flan-inspect.el
+++ b/emacs/flan-inspect.el
@@ -435,7 +435,10 @@ its loop and stopped again since: what is on the screen would then describe
 storage that has moved, and overwriting it would be aimed at nothing anybody
 looked at.")
 (defvar-local flan-inspect--editing nil
-  "Non-nil while this buffer is the value rather than a listing of it.")
+  "Where the value starts, while this buffer is the value rather than a listing.
+A marker and not a flag, because the header above it is two lines or three
+depending on whether the daemon named a type, and the reader that parses the
+buffer back has to start in the same place this one stopped writing.")
 
 (defun flan-inspect--label (child)
   "How CHILD is named in the list: `0.' for an element, `.x' for a field.
@@ -662,6 +665,13 @@ and whether that may be followed is the answer"))
       (setq flan-inspect--at-stop (plist-get answer :at-stop))
       (setq flan-inspect--stack stack)
       (setq flan-inspect--editing nil)
+      ;; Put back what editing turned off, here and not in the two commands
+      ;; that leave it: this is the one funnel every drawing goes through, and
+      ;; the mode body that set them in the first place does not run a second
+      ;; time on a buffer that is already in the mode. Without it a listing
+      ;; drawn after a commit is a listing you can yank into.
+      (setq buffer-read-only t)
+      (setq-local truncate-lines t)
       (flan-inspect--render root path flan-inspect--node stack
                             flan-inspect--type))
     (display-buffer buf)
@@ -1096,25 +1106,29 @@ program holds afterwards, `C-c C-k' throws the edit away."
              "--- Editing. C-c C-c commits what you changed, C-c C-k abandons it.\n"
              'face 'font-lock-comment-face))
     (insert "\n")
+    ;; Where the value starts, recorded rather than counted back to. The
+    ;; header above is two lines or three depending on whether the daemon
+    ;; named a type, and a count written here and again in the reader is two
+    ;; places to keep in step for no gain.
+    (setq flan-inspect--editing (point-marker))
+    (set-marker-insertion-type flan-inspect--editing nil)
     (insert (flan-inspect--literal flan-inspect--node))
     (insert "\n")
     (setq buffer-read-only nil)
     (setq-local truncate-lines nil)
-    (setq flan-inspect--editing t)
     ;; The header is not part of the value, so it is not part of what gets
     ;; parsed back — and it is fixed rather than merely un-parsed, because a
     ;; header edited by accident would otherwise read as the value having
     ;; grown a line.
-    (let ((end (save-excursion (goto-char (point-min)) (forward-line 4) (point))))
-      (add-text-properties (point-min) end '(read-only t front-sticky t)))
+    (add-text-properties (point-min) (marker-position flan-inspect--editing)
+                         '(read-only t front-sticky t))
     (goto-char (point-max))
     (forward-line -1)))
 
 (defun flan-inspect--edited ()
   "What the editable part of this buffer says, parsed."
   (save-excursion
-    (goto-char (point-min))
-    (forward-line 4)
+    (goto-char (marker-position flan-inspect--editing))
     (let ((text (buffer-substring-no-properties (point) (point-max))))
       (when (string-empty-p (string-trim text))
         (user-error "flan: there is nothing left in the buffer to commit"))
diff --git a/emacs/test-flan-cider.el b/emacs/test-flan-cider.el
index d87b404..0e613c7 100644
--- a/emacs/test-flan-cider.el
+++ b/emacs/test-flan-cider.el
@@ -918,7 +918,12 @@ would be overwritten. Look again and re-do the edit")
    (flan-inspect-abandon)
    (test-flan--check "and abandoning draws what the program holds"
                      (and (not flan-inspect--editing)
-                          (string-match-p "\\.id +7" (buffer-string))))))
+                          (string-match-p "\\.id +7" (buffer-string))))
+   ;; The listing is read-only again, and that is the assertion rather than
+   ;; the flag: the flag says which mode the buffer is in, this says whether
+   ;; `C-k' on a line of the listing would do something.
+   (test-flan--check "and the listing is read-only again afterwards"
+                     buffer-read-only)))
 
 (test-flan--writable
  "(Blob {.id 7})" "Blob" nil