Leave a gathering with its trust intact, including the stories people did not intend to travel.

Rooms loosen people. Things are said at a table that would never be written down, not because they are secret exactly, but because they were meant for that hour and those faces. Carrying them outward is rarely malicious. It usually happens as a good anecdote, told to somebody who was not there and has no way to hold it gently.

When you leave a gathering, decide what stays in the room. If you are unsure whether something was offered for wider telling, assume it was not, and let the interesting story go.