Phillipa also
might have degenerated into a mere soured cackling hanger-on; but they
were not pariahs by caste, but Brahmins, and entitled to all due
honour so long as they floated on top of the wave. Perhaps if near
drowning no finger would have been outstretched to save; but there
were plenty to pat them on the back as they disported themselves on
the sound dry land. Fair-weather friends and needy relatives rallied
round their prosperity, of course; but they were also accepted as
successful social facts by the whole of that great world which judges
for the most part by appearances, being too idle or too much engrossed
by folly to apply more accurate or searching tests. In good society
those who cared to talk twice of the matter blamed Harold; he was
absent; besides, he had gone to the wall, therefore he must be in the
wrong. On the other hand, the Jillinghams deserved the triumph that is
never denied success. To Gilly prosperous were forgiven the sins of
Gilly in social and moral rags. If scandal like an evil gas had been
let loose to crystallise upon Phillipa's good name, the black stains
could not adhere long to so charming a person, who made the Purling
mansion in Berkeley Square one of the best-frequented and most
fashionable in town.
There were many reasons why the Jillinghams should find their account
in perpetual junketings.
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