When she had gone away Priscilla wondered if there was anything in what she had said on this point; and Jack replied that he was afraid that Mrs. Bowlby-Sutherst was too notorious as a patron of notoriety for her opinion to have much weight. But as things turned out, that was just where he was wrong, for within the week several other ladies of considerable importance--county importance--called at the Manor, and were admitted. These were people who owned London houses and had a premonition that next season Mrs. Wingfield--they were sure that she would be Mrs. Wingfield by then--would be looked on as the most interesting figure in the world of drawing-rooms; and Priscilla found them very nice indeed, referring to her “case” as if it were one of the most amusing jests of the autumn season. They showed no reluctance in talking about its funniest features--its funniest features were just those which a rigid disciplinarian would have called its most serious features--and they promised faithfully that when she should appear in the court they would be present to offer her their support--their moral support. They seemed quite downhearted when she explained to them how it was her hope that the arbitrament of the Divorce Division would be avoided by a decree of a judge on the question of nullity. They had quite set their hearts on the Divorce Court, and had in their eye a toilet scheme which they felt sure would be in sympathy with the _entourage_ of that apartment, and to which they thought they might be trusted to do justice. But as the social position of these visitors was among the highest in the county, Priscilla began to feel that there was no chance of her becoming isolated even at the Manor House. The reasonableness of her attitude appealed, she saw, to some reasonable people. She had great hopes that it would appeal as well to one or more of His Majesty’s judges when the time came. And she was not neglected by her dear friend Rosa Cafifyn; but this young woman came to her unaccompanied by her mother. The Caffyn household was divided against itself on this vexed subject of Priscilla’s attitude. Mrs. Caffyn, who had never encouraged her daughter’s friendship for Priscilla Wadhurst, was aghast at the publicity which her daughter’s friend had achieved.