MISS MANNERS by Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: One evening, quite late at night, I received a long, impassioned text from a stranger by mistake. In it, he talked about having had a “wonderful few hours” with someone and hoped to see them again. He also revealed some personal insecurities about their time together that are, obviously, none of my business.

I’m aware that sometimes, to avoid the difficulties of being honest about how one feels, a person may give a phony phone number to someone they do not plan to see again. In this case, it seems I was the unlucky lotto number.

How can I handle this in a way that is polite and spares the sender any embarrassment? Is it best to reply to the text right away and tell them, “I’m sorry, but you have

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