OnemorningaboutaweekafterMarcushadleftforthesouthernpartoftheState，McTeaguefoundanoblongletterthrustthroughtheletter-dropofthedoorofhis“Parlors。“
Theaddresswastypewritten。Heopenedit。TheletterhadbeensentfromtheCityHallandwasstampedinonecornerwiththesealoftheStateofCalifornia，veryofficial；theformandfilenumberssuperscribed。
McTeaguehadbeenmakingfillingswhenthisletterarrived。
Hewasinhis“Parlors，“potteringoverhismovablerackunderneaththebirdcageinthebaywindow。Hewasmaking“blocks“tobeusedinlargeproximalcavitiesand“cylinders“forcommencingfillings。Heheardthepostman’sstepinthehallandsawtheenvelopesbegintoshuttlethemselvesthroughtheslitofhisletter-drop。Thencamethefatoblongenvelope，withitsofficialseal，thatdroppedflatwisetothefloorwithasodden，dullimpact。
Thedentistputdownthebroachandscissorsandgathereduphismail。Therewerefourlettersaltogether。OnewasforTrina，inSelina’s“elegant“handwriting；anotherwasanadvertisementofanewkindofoperatingchairfordentists；thethirdwasacardfromamillineronthenextblock，announcinganopening；andthefourth，containedinthefatoblongenvelope，wasaprintedformwithblanksleftfornamesanddates，andaddressedtoMcTeague，fromanofficeintheCityHall。McTeaguereaditthroughlaboriously。“Idon’know，Idon’know，“hemuttered，lookingstupidlyattheriflemanufacturer’scalendar。ThenheheardTrina，fromthekitchen，singingasshemadeaclatteringnoisewiththebreakfastdishes。“IguessI’llaskTrinaaboutit，“hemuttered。