DEAR ABBY: My husband and I were invited to a dinner party at the home of a very high-class, prominent society leader, who has a reputation for entertaining beautifully.
My husband's widowed sister came to town unexpectedly, so I telephoned my hostess and asked if I could bring our houseguest.
She asked, "Is your houseguest a male or female?"
I said, "She is my husband's widowed sister."
Abby, would you believe this so-called high-class society lady replied, "Oh, dear, that's too bad; we already have three extra women -- if you could bring a man, I would be delighted, but we don't need any more women."
Have you ever heard of anything to top this? -- SPEECHLESS IN LA JOLLA
DEAR SPEECHLESS: Yes. It actually happened to a friend of mine some years ago. When she was told an extra man would be welcome, but they couldn't accommodate an extra woman, she replied, "Oh, I didn't know we were going to mate at the table." (Thank you, Mickey Ziffren.)