ich they should do in the
order in which they have entered it, the lady of highest rank leading
the way, the hostess following last.

The host, or the gentleman nearest the door, should open it for the
ladies to pass out, and close it after them.

When the ladies have left the dining-room, the gentlemen should close up
as near to the host as possible, so as to render conversation general.

The wines usually drunk by gentlemen after dinner are claret of a fine
quality, and port.

The ladies on leaving the dining-room return to the drawing-room. Coffee
should be almost immediately brought to the drawing-room. The
coffee-cups containing coffee should be brought on a silver salver, with
a cream-jug and a basin of crystallised sugar.

In large country houses coffee is sometimes brought in a silver
coffee-pot, and the lady would then pour out her own coffee, the servant
holding the salver the meanwhile.

Coffee should be taken a few minutes later to the dining-room, and
either handed to the gentlemen, or placed on the table, that they may
help themselves (see the work previously referred to).

A very general plan is, after the wine has gone round once or twice, for
the host to offer cigarettes, which are smoked before the gentlemen join
the ladies in the drawing-room.

After coffee, the gentleman of highest rank should leave the dining-room
first. The host would not propose an adjournment to the drawing-room,
until he observed a wish to do so on the part of his guests, but there
is no hard and fast rule on this head.

It is not now the fashion for gentlemen to sit over their wine beyond
fifteen or twenty minutes at the utmost, instead of as formerly, from
three-quarters of an hour to an hour, a change much appreciated by
hostesses.

On the Continent the gentlemen accompany the ladies to the drawing-room,
and do not remain in the dining-room as in England.

The gentleman of highest rank present could suggest an adjournment to
the drawing-room within a quarter of an hour if he thought proper to do
so. If the other guests were engaged in a discussion in which he did not
wish to take part, having suggested the adjournment, he could leave the
dining-room to join the ladies in the drawing-room; but as a rule, the
gentlemen leave the dining-room together, the host following last.

The host should ring the dining-room bell before leaving the room, as an
intimation to the butler that the gentlemen have left the room.