Dear Christine,

I'VE LET DOWN a friend and feel miserable about it. You see, she told me she liked someone at work, and I told him. He then tried to tempt her into an affair and her husband found out.

There was a lot of trouble, and although this man left, I feel that if only I'd kept quiet none of it would have happened. Should I confess to her?

– S.V.S.

Dear S.V.S.,

Learn your lesson from your earlier mistake, and keep your feelings strictly to yourself. You might feel better if you owned up and apologised to her but it would do your friend no good at all, and might make her feel a whole lot worse.

In any case, while it is never good to break confidence or encourage gossip, your part in all this was small. Your friend should have kept a grip on her fantasies, and the office Romeo should have been put firmly in his place from the start. Remember that the role of a true friend is to warn of possible trouble ahead, and sound the voice of reason.

– CHRISTINE