Dart just can’t let the “one-month” day go by without a letter to his beloved. That wedding day is getting so close!

His most frustrating professor, Mr. Carter, of American literature fame, gave the class a surprise today. “After making us stay up all night studying, and after making us arrive at class fortified with No-Doze pills and the beginnings of anxiety neuroses, he said ‘Would anyone be mad if we didn’t have a test today? Nobody was, and we didn’t.”

He says he just may take up Dot’s suggestion that he buy several postcards instead of thinking he has to fill a page every night. “If we have any left over, we could use ’em to write ‘Having a dandy time all by ourselves!’ from Sunapee.”

It appears that Dot had some comments about the big table he included in a recent letter – the one that was supposed to predict their chances for a successful marriage. Dart had filled in a number of the categories on the chart and Dot has taken exception to some of his information. He confesses that he was guessing on a lot of them. Maybe they’ll be able to fill in the table more accurately when they’re together, but the real point of this exercise was to demonstrate that they have what it takes for a happy marriage.

He insists that she could switch to postcards instead of using her regular monogrammed paper. It sounds as though Dart’s not the only one with a hectic schedule. I can only guess that Dot’s days are filled with babysitting and other odd jobs, painting the house, and trying to maintain some contact with her friends.

From a comment Dart makes, we can surmise that the professional painters that Arthur Chamberlain hired to paint the exterior have decided to leave for a Florida vacation, without finishing the job. “Don’t either of you girls fall off the ladder if you decide to wash the house. (Don’t fall off the roof just before the wedding, either.)”

He’s appalled by the news that the church organist will cost him $25! Also, he didn’t realize that Dot needs to pay for her dress because he thought she was going to wear her sister Harriet’s dress. What he didn’t know was that Eleanor will wear Harriet’s gown and Dot is having one made to match. He reminds her that he’d worried about big weddings costing more, but he assures her he wouldn’t feel truly married without a big wedding.

Dot said that she would soon get her blood test and a physical. Does she need the physical, or does she just feel like having one? He hopes she tell him how it goes.

His exams begin on June 1, so he asks her the favor of not writing him any upsetting letters or postcards during that critical time. Really?! I seriously doubt Dot would ever intentionally write him an upsetting letter, anytime.

In his PS, Dart apologizes for referring to her on a recent envelope as “Dorothy L. Chamberlain.” He knows she doesn’t like her middle name, but she needn’t stew about that much longer. In a month, her name will be Dorothy Chamberlain Peterson!