Then he knocked the white ashes out upon the hob, stood up with his back to the fire, in grim rumination, for about a minute, at the end of which he unlocked his desk, and took forth a letter, with a large red seal.

If was more than two months old by this time, and was, in fact, that letter from the London doctor which he had expected with some impatience.
It was not very long, and standing he read it through, and his white face contracted, and darkened, and grew strangely intense and stern as he did so.
''Tis devilish strong--ha, ha, ha--conclusive, indeed.' He was amused again.

'I've kept it long enough--_igni reservata_.' And holding it in the tongs, he lighted a corner, and as the last black fragment of it, covered with creeping sparks, flew up the chimney, he heard the voice of a gentleman hallooing in the court-yard..