Sentence:  At a desk outside the [Bernsteins'] door … I said, ‘Tom Wolfe,' and sure enough, there he was, Tom Wolfe, listed on a yellow legal pad … Like any boy who has been instructed at <WSD>cotillion</WSD> to pay his respects to the host and hostess first … I sought out Leonard and Felicia Bernstein and introduced myself. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (cotillion ball); a coming-of-age party meant to present girls newly transitioned into womanhood to the community for courtship. (from 1898)