Firstly, then, when invited to stay at a friend’s house, use your judgment with regard to the advisability of accepting the invitation. If it is proffered spontaneously and without any apparent object in view, avail yourself of it, if inclination prompts you; but if you have reason to think that you are only asked because the hostess thinks it ‘necessary,’ or deems it likely that you will ‘expect it,’ hasten to write an apology at once. Never, however, do this, nor the reverse of it, nor anything else, for the matter of that, on impulse—take time to consider: it won’t occupy you long, and the result will repay you. On no account reply to invitations on postcards: such missives, although highly estimable and convenient in their proper place, should only be made use of for the conveyal of unimportant messages. A lady who favours you with an invitation to her house, may at least be considered worthy of such trifles as a sheet of note-paper and a penny stamp. When you have made up your mind to avail yourself of an invitation, be sure to do so at the time specified by your hostess. Never select your own time, except when especially requested; should you be guilty of such a breach of etiquette, you would, in all probability, seriously incommode your entertainer. It is the custom in many families—especially those who live in the country—to invite a succession of visitors, one after another; and if an invited guest declines going at the time for which he is asked, he ought to remain absent altogether; for, to say, ‘I cannot go to you next week, but shall be happy to do so the week following,’ may considerably embarrass the head of the house to which he has been bidden.