e wretched bores. The first
arrivals leave first. Freezing out is not known in good society.

Calls should be made after every civility extended and every invitation
accepted or regretted; after weddings, wedding receptions, deaths in
families, etc., as fully explained in the chapter on card-leaving.

A letter of introduction is always sent, never left in person. Calls at
the theater or in opera boxes are mere social amenities, and are not
accepted as formal. A man enters an opera box, stands, and bows. His
hostess will turn around and greet him. He will then, if there is a
vacant chair, take one, and sit and talk a little while, leaving on the
arrival of another caller. These rules for afternoon calls can be
applied also to those made in the evening.

If no day is set for a first call, a man is expected to drop in any
afternoon within ten days after the invitation. The sooner a call is
made the greater the compliment. A second call may be made within two or
three months; after that once or twice a year, as intimacy permits. A
man is never asked to dinner or to any function at a house at which he
has not first called. The usual form of a dinner invitation, the hostess
being married, reads:

_My dear Mr. Smith:_

_Will you dine with us, most informally, on Wednesday,
December the ninth, at eight o'clock? Hoping that you have no
engagement for that evening, believe me,_

_Yours very sincerely,_
_Alice de Tompkins._
_November thirtieth._

An answer to an invitation like this, which should be sent within
twenty-four hours, reads:

_My dear Mrs. de Tompkins:_

_It will give me great pleasure to dine with you on Wednesday
evening, December the ninth, at eight o'clock. With many thanks for
your kind thought of me,_

_Yours very sincerely,_
_Algernon Smith._
_December first._

Or, in the case of a formal dinner consisting of more than ten or twelve
guests:

_Mr. and Mrs. de Tompkins_
_request the pleasure of_
_Mr. Smith's_
_company at dinner on_
_Wednesday evening, December_
_the ninth, at eight o'clock._

The answer reads:

_Mr. Algernon Smith, Jr.,_
_accepts with pleasure_
_Mr. and Mrs. de Tompkins's_
_kind invita