In going to see a friend who is visiting a lady whom you do not know, whether you should leave a card on the hostess as well as on your friend depends upon the circumstances:  if the hostess is one who is socially prominent and you are unknown, it would be better taste not to leave a card on her, since your card afterward found without explanation might be interpreted as an uncalled-for visit made in an attempt for a place on her list.  If, on the other hand, she is the unknown person and you are the prominent one, your card is polite, but unwise unless you mean to include her name on your list.  But if she is one with whom you have many interests in common, then you may very properly leave a card for her.

In leaving a card on a lady stopping at a hotel or living in an apartment house, you should write her name in pencil across the top of your card, to insure its being given to her, and not to some one else.

At the house of a lady whom you know well and whom you are sorry not to find at home, it is “friendly” to write “Sorry not to see you!” or “So sorry to miss you!”

Turning down a corner of a visiting card is by many intended to convey that the visit is meant for all the ladies in the family.  Other people mean merely to show that the card was left at the door in person and not sent in an envelope.  Other people turn them down from force of habit and mean nothing whatever.  But whichever the reason, more cards are bent or dog-eared than are left flat.

=ENGRAVED CARDS ANNOUNCING ENGAGEMENT, BAD FORM=

Someone somewhere asked whether or not to answer an engraved card announcing an engagement.  The answer can have nothing to do with etiquette, since an engraved announcement is unknown to good society. (For the proper announcement of an engagement see page 304.)

=WHEN PEOPLE SEE THEIR FRIENDS=

Five o’clock is the informal hour when people are “at home” to friends.  The correct hour for leaving cards and paying formal visits is between 3.30 and 4.30.  One should hesitate to pay a visit at the “tea hour” unless one is sure of one’s welcome among the “intimates” likely to be found around the hostess’s tea-table.

Many ladies make it their practise to be home if possible at five o’clock, and their friends who know them well come in at that time. (For the afternoon tea-table and its customs, see page 171.)

=INFORMAL VISITING OFTEN ARRANGED BY TELEPHONE=

For instance, instead of ringing her door-bell, Mrs. Norman calls Mrs. Kindhart on the telephone:  “I haven’t seen you for weeks!  Won’t you come in to tea, or to lunch—­just you.”  Mrs. Kindhart answers, “Yes, I’d love to.  I can come this afternoon”; and five o’clock finds them together over the tea-table.

In the same way young Struthers calls up Millicent Gilding, “Are you going to be in this afternoon?” She says, “Yes, but not until a quarter of six.”  He says, “Fine, I’ll come then.”  Or she says, “I’m so sorry, I’m playing bridge with Pauline—­but I’ll be in to-morrow!” He says, “All right, I’ll come to-morrow.”