CHAPTERXLIII。
ATLAST！
MYletterfromMr。Playmore，inclosingtheagent’sextraordinarytelegram，wasnotinspiredbythesanguineviewofourprospectswhichhehadexpressedtomewhenwemetatBenjamin’shouse。
\"Ifthetelegrammeananything，\"hewrote，\"itmeansthatthefragmentsofthetornletterhavebeencastintothehousemaid’sbucket（alongwiththedust，theashes，andtherestofthelitterintheroom），andhavebeenemptiedonthedust—heapatGleninch。Sincethiswasdone，theaccumulatedrefusecollectedfromtheperiodicalcleansingsofthehouse，duringatermofnearlythreeyears——including，ofcourse，theashesfromthefireskeptburning，forthegreaterpartoftheyear，inthelibraryandthepicture—gallery——havebeenpouredupontheheap，andhaveburiedthepreciousmorselsofpaperdeeperanddeeper，daybyday。Evenifwehaveafairchanceoffindingthesefragments，whathopecanwefeel，atthisdistanceoftime，ofrecoveringthemwiththewritinginastateofpreservation？I
shallbegladtohear，byreturnofpostifpossible，howthematterstrikesyou。IfyoucouldmakeitconvenienttoconsultwithmepersonallyinEdinburgh，weshouldsavetime，whentimemaybeofseriousimportancetous。WhileyouareatDoctorStarkweather’syouarewithineasyreachofthisplace。Pleasethinkofit。\"