DEAR MISS MANNERS: My sister invited me to join her, her husband and another couple for brunch. We would be a group of five, as I am single.

When I arrived, the four of them had already been seated and their four chairs were clustered together around three quarters of a circular table. My chair was comparatively removed from the other four in the middle of the remaining quarter of the circle. I was seated between my sister and brother-in-law with their friends directly opposite me.

As the meal progressed, I felt increasingly isolated as I frequently found both my sister and brother-in-law simultaneously engaged in one-on-one conversations with the wife and husband opposite me. I would sit in silence, not sure where to look.

My relative distance from them and their proximity to each other effectively compounded the effect, by impacting my ability to hear what was being said in a noisy restaurant. Additionally, often both my sister and brother-in-law physically turned their bodies away from me as they engaged with their neighbor on the opposite side.

Throughout the meal, all I really wanted to do was get up and leave. The one thing that prevented me from doing so was fear of my actions being considered histrionics. Consequently, I finished the meal in relative silence until my sister finally sought to engage me in conversation following dessert.

How would you have handled the situation? Is there a way to politely take your leave of a meal without causing a scene in such a situation? As it happened, I said nothing, and later sent an email explaining how I was hurt by what had happened.

GENTLE READER: Call in the authorities.

Miss Manners is not suggesting histrionics in the form of police assistance, but to call in those with even greater power: the ones in charge of restaurant seating. When you sized up the situation, you could have asked if there were smaller tables so that you all could better hear one another. Even if none were available, this would alert your lunch companions to the awkward placement of your chair -- and encouraged them to be aware of it, and converse accordingly.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: A friend canceled her wedding just a few weeks before it was to take place. I had already sent a gift from the registry, which was never returned or acknowledged.

Now, several months later, the couple has reconciled and rescheduled the wedding. I do not wish to buy another gift, but plan to write a card. Should I acknowledge the gift in any way? She gave me a wedding gift, so I do not want her to think that I did not give her one. She may have lost track of my gift in the upheaval of the canceled wedding.

GENTLE READER: Write in the card: “I am so thrilled to hear that you and Ragmar have reconciled. I was hoping that the silver nut dish would get used by both of you. Now both of our dreams are being realized. I look forward to the wedding.”

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I have three children with two different fathers. My youngest daughter does not have anything to do with her father.

I do not have a good relationship with my ex-husband (father to the oldest two). I caught him with another woman in my bed when my baby was 2 months old. He is now married to her. There is bad blood between the woman and me; she has done a lot of mean things to me through the years.

I know I have to deal with them at family events that involve the oldest two children, and I am always nice, even though it is very stressful to me. I have had a really rough year this year: I had to put my parents in assisted living, as my mother has dementia and my stepfather is dying of cancer. I have also had some pretty serious health issues.

My youngest daughter is getting married. She invited the father of my oldest two children, not expecting they would actually accept. Now I have to be around them at the wedding when I am already upset and not at my best.

I don’t know how I can be nice this time. I feel they do not belong at her wedding.

I am unable to let go of my anger. I feel it was inappropriate for my daughter to invite them, first of all, without asking me how I felt about it. I also feel it was inappropriate for them to accept the invitation, since they well know how I feel. Is there any way to uninvite them?

GENTLE READER: While your daughter may have acted under a flawed and incorrect assumption (inviting people with the hope that they will not attend rarely works out in anyone’s favor), you cannot reasonably reverse it without incurring even more stress for everyone. You might have a talk with your daughter, however, about future events -- and penance, in the form of running interference and limiting unpleasant interactions whenever possible.

Barring that, Miss Manners is afraid that you have no choice but to muster up any strength you have left to take a higher road and be at least nominally polite to the couple. Doing so, she points out, has the likely added benefit of infuriating the new wife. So that, at least, is fun.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I am naturally sociable and have friends over to my home a lot. I enjoy it.

Before the appointed arrival time, I am usually in the bathroom getting ready, or busy in the kitchen with last-minute details. I have friends who mistakenly feel it a sign of enthusiasm to arrive early. My mother always said it was more rude to be five minutes early than 30 minutes late.

I love my friends, but wish they would not show up early. What should I do or say?

GENTLE READER: Get ready faster. If the sight of you still half-dressed with food unprepared does not discourage these guests, then Miss Manners suggests a later start time for them -- and an earlier one for you.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)

DEAR MISS MANNERS: Is it all right to brush a child’s hair at the breakfast table, or is that a no-no? We are often in a rush at breakfast to get our children to school on time.

GENTLE READER: Rules for the family breakfast table are more relaxed than for more formal occasions. But Miss Manners still prefers to separate grooming from eating -- rather than having to separate hair from cereal.

DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was invited to a wedding shower for my nephew’s bride-to-be. She had registered at a very nice store for her gifts.

I was unable to attend the shower, and spoke with a sales consultant over the phone, who narrowed the choices to my price range. She took care of the details on mailing.

It was a lovely gift, sent directly to the bride. A few days before the shower, the mother of the groom (my sister-in-law) texted me to chastise me for not having the gift wrapped. Apparently, because of the new couple’s small apartment, packages were mailed to my sister-in-law’s house, though addressed to the bride.

My sister-in-law was not hosting the wedding shower, but she texted that she would wrap the gift “for me.” I replied “thank you,” though it was very upsetting.

I looked at the registry on my computer, and the bride had left a note stating “please do not add gift-wrap.” Some couples are preferring this option for the sake of the environment, or simply to save their guests a fee.

I texted my sister-in-law about the wrapping request on the registry and her response was, “I didn’t know they cared about the environment.” No apology for opening a package not addressed to her. No apology for chastising me about the lack of gift-wrapping.

I sent a lovely gift that the couple had registered for, and got grief!! Would you please review gift etiquette? Especially with new trends with young couples.

GENTLE READER: Happy as she would be to review the relevant etiquette, Miss Manners fears it would not solve your problem: Neither the bride, nor you, were in any way remiss.

Your sister-in-law, by contrast, is guilty of at last one etiquette violation -- if not also of the almost-as-serious crime of tampering with the mail. When you received the first text, you had the opportunity to thank your sister-in-law for the offer to wrap the gift, while pointedly explaining that it was unnecessary since the bride had requested that gifts not be wrapped. Follow-ups after that are, as you discovered, unlikely to have much impact.

What remains is to prevent the exchange from coloring your relationship with your niece-in-law -- and to learn to be wary in future dealings with your sister-in-law.

(Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, dearmissmanners@gmail.com; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.)