If she has friends or makes table acquaintances, she will talk with them in a low tone. She will never talk with some one at another table, nor laugh loudly. If any civility, such as the passing of food, is offered her by either a lady or a gentleman, she will express her thanks, but will not start a conversation.
The usual good manners of cultivated people, emphasized by the additional restraint which the presence of the public imposes, is a safe standard of etiquette in a hotel.
CHAPTER VIII
THE ART OF BEING A GUEST
Just as the host and hostess, in sending out an invitation, obligate themselves to make everything as enjoyable as possible for their guest, so a guest, in accepting, obligates himself or herself to meet the efforts of the host and hostess at least halfway. Success in the art of being a guest depends more upon the spirit in which one accepts of entertainment than upon the entertainment offered.
A formal dinner is one of the most solemn obligations of society. After having once accepted the invitation, only death or mortal illness is an excuse for not attending.
One may attend a formal reception and not expend more than twenty minutes of time, if one wishes to be very prompt. The round of social duty there is brief. A lady removes her wrap, but not her hat or gloves, in the dressing-room, and thence goes directly to the drawing-room. The guest here greets the host and hostess, briefly if the reception is large and the flow of incoming guests constant, then passes to the room where the refreshments are served. After partaking of these, the guest may leave without bidding adieu to the hostess, unless the reception is small and she is free to speak a second time with her guests.
If one is present at an afternoon tea or reception, it is not always necessary to call afterwards; yet, many hostesses expect such a call if the affair has been formal. One should certainly call after a tea given to introduce a débutante, or a wedding reception, or one given in honor of some special person or event.
If a guest is not pleased with the food provided at a luncheon or dinner, or for any special reason cannot eat of any one dish, he should try and satisfy himself with something else, and make no comment upon it, doing his utmost to prevent his hostess from thinking that she has not well provided for him.