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Sept. 28

Dear Mother,

This is the eve of our departure for France. We have our boat-train tickets, have paid our hotel bill, & are on the way to dinner at the home of the barrister. The boat-train leaves at 9:00 tomorrow & arrives at about 5.

After the night at the Red Lion we visited Stonehenge and walked about Amesbury for some time. It is the height of [[strikethrough]]and[[/strikethrough]] a flower season, with gorgeous dahlias, chrysanthemums (they are not called "mums" & I saw a joke in a magazine based on our usage, a picture of a row of patted ladies), anemones, roses, snapdragons, marigolds, etc. The dahlias are particularly good, with even single ones (in Marjorie Dean's back yard).

We came up to London that night, & stayed in a hotel near Waterloo, moving Sun. morning to a small bed-and-breakfast hotel at Russell Square. They have been waking us up for breakfast here.

Marjorie invited us and Monica over on Sunday for dinner, tea & supper.. very generously. She also took us to Richmond Park. The fare was certainly an improvement over the last time: Marjorie specializes in baking and bad baked crumpets, raisin cake & apple pastie (looks like pie but crust is soft). She served ham and chicken at dinner, egg salad at supper. We watched a little television too. A very pleasant visit.

On Mon, Tue & today we saw various sights: the 2 galleries, the Tower, Westminster Abbey & today Jack visited the Imperial War Museum by himself. We ordered him a Harris tweed jacket at a rather inexpensive chain tailor store ($24 including mailing to Strasbourg). Last night we went to the Opera (2 Italian comic operas) at the Royal Festival Music Hall, one of the finest (new) halls in the world today: the architecture is beautiful, every comfort (like tea rooms on all floors) is provided, [[strikethrough]]and[[/strikethrough]] the views from the vast glass windows are grand, and the acoustics are excellent. We got very good seats for about $2 each. We met Monica [[strikethrough]]from[[/strikethrough]] for lunch that same day.

On Monday afternoon, to go back a little, we were given a lawyer's tour of London by the barrister (by car). We met him at the Law Courts & he showed us the kinds of chambers there (including the Lord Chief Justice's). Then he took us to the Temple (stopped at his office, we saw the Chapel there), & then last to the Old Bailey. He suggested we see if a trial were in progress. As a matter of fact there was, and the jury was out considering the fate of 4 men in a murder trial. They came back after a brief time out to pronounce 3 of the men guilty of capital murder, 1 of murder. The red-robed judge gave the sentences. Before he began a man put a little black cap on his head: he handed down 2 death sentences. The man took it off & the other prisoners were seen to be greatly relieved: they got life imprisonment. We were quite impressed by the rapid, solemn ceremony. 

Generally the country seems prosperous, all synthetics are plentiful, wools are cheap, hotels not so, food abundant, etc. Hope you are well - got your letter.

Love, Doris