Burke came home yesterday, looking terrible at his new weight of 148 pounds. “You’d miss him if you looked for him and didn’t know where he was standing.”  His homecoming was celebrated with a big family dinner that included his girlfriend Edie.

Today Dart drove Burke around town. They visited Burke’s best friend, Stan Downs at a theater. Dart learned that Burke has a few dates lined up with girls other than Edie because Edie has some dates of her own. “Oh Darling, how much nicer the world would be if all couples could be as passionately in love as we are!”

Dart’s grades were a mixed bag. He’s entirely satisfied with his A in psychology, but disappointed with the C in political science. His goal now is to raise that C while maintaining the A.

Although he’s feeling lousy tonight, with a sore throat and general malaise, he’ll try to answer one letter, leaving him with four more to get to when he can.

“Maybe it’s a bit of wishful thinking on my part, but from your 26 July letter I’m inclined to think that you more or less approve of ‘playing with fire’ (for us), as long as we can know when to put it out, and how. That suits me. Yes, we do know what leads up to it, and  I think we can recognize the fact in time.”

He agrees that their visit to the doctor and the minister should be about a week before they’re married. He regrets they don’t live closer to each other so scheduling such a meeting would be easier. It’s settled then: They will do a little reading on the subject during their honeymoon while leaving plenty of time for practicing what they’ve read.

Horror of horrors! He gives Dot permission to burn some of his letters, asking only that she save some of his descriptive ones and the ones they are both sentimental about. He says he will do the same. Thank heaven they both decided against such a drastic step!

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Dot missed her chance to write last night when Gib wanted company. She sat with him for about two hours and talked about…Dart.

In addition to taking care of the Pecsok family today, Dot also set aside an hour to do Mrs. Miller’s hair. Both Billy and Linda Pecsok were “good as gold” while she tended to Mrs. Miller. How Dot wants Dart to meet this family! Billy looks like a baby food model and he never cries. Linda is sweet and very helpful, even though she’s only two years old. Dot knows she’s going to miss this family when she moves back into her house.

“Gib and I have been discussing child discipline and it’s my opinion he has it all over the Millers. He’s never spanked the children, but they are the most obedient children she’s ever known (And I’ve seen a few in my day.) They know when he’s kidding and when he means business, and act accordingly. ”

She’s surprised that Fred is engaged. She thought he wasn’t ready to settle down for a long time. Anyway, she wishes them both the best of luck.

She missed the Northern Lights that he saw last week, but she’s had the pleasure of seeing them several times at Lake Sunapee. They’re beautiful and uncanny.

It sounds as though they are having so much company that maybe she shouldn’t plan on coming out in September. She’s never fancied the bathtub as a bed. She could always try and bum a bed at the home of one of her Andrews School friends, but that wouldn’t be much fun.

She’s glad he likes the sound of her laughter. The kids at the playground tease her about it, saying it sounds like water bubbling over. That sounds like a compliment to me.

It sometimes feels as though it were she who got such great results on those aptitude test. She’s so proud of him, but not at all surprised. She’s always believed he had more going for him than he let himself or others see. “I’ve always known you were extra special.”

It seems to her that she might remember Nancy Sutter from Andrews. Is she blond and did she sing in the glee club?

She fears he was right about her selection as the breakfast cook the other day. It certainly was more her schedule than her cooking abilities that won her that assignment. She has been doing all the cooking at the Pecsok home this week has surprised herself a little at how well she’s managed to do.

If she took the amount of pay that Gib wants to give her, she’d make $78 dollars this week (including her regular job.) He thinks $8.00 a day is fair because he would have had to hire a nurse, a babysitter and someone to clean if she hadn’t been available. She says there’s no way she will accept that much pay, but it’s nice to think someone thinks she’s worth that.

The letter she got from Dart today needs special attention, so she’ll wait until tomorrow to answer it. Does he realize it’s only 36 days until he’s here in Greenwich?