DEAR MISS MANNERS: So, three couples will share a luxurious house for two weeks on vacation out of the country. Everyone has paid their one-third share. The couples are close friends. All are financially secure.

At the last minute, one couple gets COVID. If the ill couple travels, they will expose their friends and the other airline passengers to COVID. The other two couples go and enjoy the beautiful resort house.

No one has travel insurance. Legally, the sick couple is not entitled to any refund for the rental. Due to the close friendship and personal generosity, should this couple get some compensation from their friends? I believe a partial reimbursement would be the best policy. Do you agree?

GENTLE READER: It troubles Miss Manners to reduce the etiquette of what happened to a financial transaction. You say that none of the couples are in financial need, so there is no need for a refund. But if money is to change hands, someone is going to have to raise the subject.

Miss Manners would not object to the healthy couples voluntarily offering the sick couple a refund — although a more natural topic of conversation would be to ask how their friends are feeling and whether there is anything they can do to aid in their recovery.

As to the sick couple, why would the money be foremost in their minds? Do they feel in some way put-upon — either because they were unable to get their money back, or because they had to miss their flight to protect the health of others? If so, this is a feeling best kept to themselves, lest it diminish our otherwise natural sympathy for them.

Please send your questions to Miss Manners at her website, www.missmanners.com; to her email, [email protected]; or through postal mail to Miss Manners, Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106.