Dart received Dot’s “confession” letter about the episode with Sonny Martin. It is the sole topic of his letter today.

“It’s so wonderfully unusual for a girl to be so conscientious in doing and talking the way you have that I feel like shouting for joy at the thought of knowing you and loving you and knowing you’re the kind of person that you are. Thank you, Dot, for being faithful to me. I don’t deserve it. You’ll see why very shortly.” (Those words must have sent at least a little chill through her veins.)

He tells her now that the letter he wrote about the group of students leaving class and walking together to a local bar was an edited version of the events. While his report was 85% true, he must now confess the remaining 15% of the truth. When the group got to the bar, both Dart and Miss Miller decided they didn’t want to go inside. She said that Dart could walk her home from the streetcar stop.

It was then that the subjects of engagements, mental telepathy, and psychic connections like the one he and Dot seem to have, came up. She told him she felt bad that she asked him to accompany her home, and that he didn’t need to do so. He thought that doing so would be disloyal to Dot, but it might also be considered chivalrous, so he agreed to do it. When they got to her door, she invited him in, he declined, they said good night, and he left.

“I’m sorry what you described happened to you, and I’m sorry about what happened with me. I’m glad you had the wonderful, lovable honesty to tell me about it,  and I’m sorry I wasn’t decent enough to tell you. ”

He goes on to say that while he didn’t kiss her, he did resist her efforts to hold his hand. Still, he couldn’t see a way to decently refuse to let her hold his arm when she grabbed it crossing the street. He says Miss Miller is an awful flirt, and not very attractive.

His letter ends abruptly at the bottom of the page with no closing or signature. I suspect the final page or pages of this letter have been lost, but it seems like there really wouldn’t have been much more he could have added to it that would have made much of a difference.

#          #          #

Today, after driving Harriet home, Dot stopped by the Pecsok house nearby. What started as an impromptu drop-in turned into a delightful long visit. Mr. P. walked in from the garden just as Dot was declining Mrs. P’s invitation to dinner.  Taking things into his own hands, he pulled Dot to his lap, put his hand over her mouth, and called Ruth to say that Dot would not be coming home for dinner because she was eating with them.

Suddenly she found herself as a dinner guest, dressed in dungarees, and old sweater and her straggly hair bending in all directions. The dinner was beautiful, followed by a fun time cleaning up the kitchen and playing with the kids. Next it was bath time for the kiddies, so all of them scrambled into the tub at the same time. “Gee, I love those kids! That little Billy couldn’t be more precious. He’ll be a year old Tuesday. Both Chuckie and Linda make such a fuss over him, it’s a circus to watch.”

After the children were tucked in their beds, the adults decided to have a concert. Mrs. Pecsock played the new piano they bought for their 10th anniversary, Mr. P wrapped a comb in paper and played that, and Dot tried to sing with her hoarse voice. “We sounded positively horrible, but we had such fun for the next two hours.”

She got a letter today telling her that the shorthand class at the high school was going to be discontinued because several students had dropped out. She’s very disappointed, and is going to see if there’s anything she can do to change that decision.

Last night she dreamed that Dart’s parents were with them on their honeymoon at Lake Sunapee. “They certainly seemed to fall in love with the place. It didn’t seem (in the dream) that they cramped our style at all, so what say we take ’em to Sunapee next June?” (Just 224 days until June 14.)

She loves him more than she did the last time she wrote that she loves him.