GREAT BRITAIN WHILE THE PRISONER SKETCHED IN JAIL, HE LIVED LIKE THE PRINCE OF PONCES . FOR 56[ A DAY, HE WAS ABLE UNDER BRITISH PRISON REGULATIONS TO GET A CELL WITH A SOFT BED, A CARPET ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR, CURTAINS ON THE BARRED WINDOW, AN ARMCHAIR, AND ANOTHER PRISONER TO CLEAN UP AFTER HIM . DURING THE THREE WEEKS STEPHEN WARD WAS IN JAIL, JOHN PROFUMO HAD BEEN DISGRACED, EVGENY IVANOV EXPELLED FROM THE COMMUNIST PARTY AND PACKED OFF TO A RUSSIAN MENTAL HOSPITAL, AND CHRISTINE KEELER SUCCESSFULLY SCREEN-TESTED FOR THE PROPOSED " DRAMATIZED DOCUMENTARY " OF HER LIFE . BUT LAST WEEK ARTIST-OSTEOPATH WARD, THE FOURTH MEMBER OF WHAT LABOR PARTY LEADER HAROLD WILSON ELOQUENTLY CALLED " THIS DINGY QUADRILATERAL, " AT LAST HELD CENTER STAGE . HANDCUFFED AND WEARING SUNGLASSES, WARD STUCK HIS TONGUE OUT AT PHOTOGRAPHERS AS HE WAS LED INTO LONDON'S MARYLEBONE MAGISTRATES' COURT FOR A HEARING TO DECIDE WHETHER HIS CASE SHOULD BE REFERRED TO THE OLD BAILEY FOR TRIAL . THE CHARGE : EIGHT COUNTS OF PROCURING, LIVING OFF THE EARNINGS OF PROSTITUTES, RUNNING A BROTHEL AND ARRANGING ABORTIONS . IN HIS OPENING STATEMENT, PROSECUTOR MERVYN GRIFFITH-JONES WARNED THAT THE HEARING WOULD UNFOLD A " SOMEWHAT SORDID STORY . " IT WAS SORDID ALL RIGHT AND MORE THAN SOMEWHAT . SEE JIM . A PARADE OF GIRLS TALL, SHORT, BLOND, BRUNETTE, REDHEADED TOOK THE STAND . BUT, INEVITABLY, THE STAR WITNESSES WERE CHRISTINE KEELER AND MARILYN ( " MANDY " ) RICE-DAVIES . DURING CHRISTINE'S TESTIMONY, WARD QUIETLY SKETCHED HER FROM THE DOCK . CHRISTINE SAID THAT BETWEEN LOVERS OF HER OWN, SHE WOULD STAY PLATONICALLY WITH WARD AT HIS WIMPOLE MEWS FLAT . " WE WERE LIKE BROTHER AND SISTER, " SHE SAID, BUT FRATERNALLY, WARD KEPT HER SUPPLIED WITH MEN . " MY LIFE USED TO REVOLVE AROUND STEPHEN FROM THE MOMENT I GOT UP UNTIL THE MOMENT I WENT TO BED, " SHE SAID . " I THOUGHT I COULD NEVER STAND ON MY FEET UNLESS HE WAS THERE TO SUPPORT ME MENTALLY . " WARD TOLD HER IT WAS ALL RIGHT FOR A GIRL TO SLEEP WITH A MAN FOR MONEY AS LONG AS SHE DID NOT GET THE " PROSTITUTE MENTALITY . / THOUGH PAYMENT FOR SERVICES RANGED UP TO $140, HALF OF WHICH USUALLY WENT TO WARD, SHE SAID : " I HAVE NEVER CONSIDERED MYSELF A CALL GIRL OR PROSTITUTE . " SOMETIMES WHEN WARD " COMPLAINED ABOUT HAVING NO MONEY, " CHRISTINE TESTIFIED, SHE WOULD SIMPLY SAY : " I'LL GO SEE JIM . " HE WAS A WEALTHY BUSINESSMAN, WHO HAD PAID HER " HUNDREDS OF POUNDS, " BUT THE NAME MIGHT WELL HAVE BEEN JACK . PROFUMO ALSO GAVE HER MONEY, " BUT NOT FOR MYSELF ; IT WAS FOR MY MOTHER . " MISS X . CHRISTINE SAID THAT SHE TOOK UP MODELING SO THAT SHE COULD KEEP MEETING GIRLS TO INTRODUCE TO WARD . OFTEN WHEN SHE AND WARD WERE OUT WALKING, / HE USED TO TELL ME WHICH GIRL HE LIKED IN A SHOP AND SAY " GO AND GET HER . " ' CHRISTINE WOULD INTRODUCE THE GIRLS TO WARD UNDER THE GUISE THAT HE WAS HER BROTHER OR THAT HE WANTED TO SKETCH THEM . WARD WOULD THEN SEDUCE THE GIRLS AND LATER DISCUSS THEIR TALENTS WITH CHRISTINE . / HE USED TO SAY " THAT WAS WONDERFUL, " ' SHE SAID . " SHE'S GOOD, SHE'S NOT BAD, SHE'S FANTASTIC,' SOMETHING LIKE THAT . WHILE THE PRISONER SKETCHED ADD AS GRIFFITH-JONES AND HIS WITNESSES TOLD IT, WARD WAS OCCASIONALLY TURNED DOWN . ONCE A SHOPGIRL BALKED WHEN HE WANTED HER TO GO TO A PARTY " WHERE SHE WOULD SEE GIRLS TIED UP AND WHIPPED . / ANOTHER TIME, WARD TOLD A " YOUNG LADY OF THE UTMOST RESPECTABILITY, / SAID THE PROSECUTOR, THAT HE HAD A TWO-WAY MIRROR IN HIS FLAT THROUGH WHICH ONE COULD SEE INTO THE BEDROOM FROM THE LIVING ROOM, ADDED HE HOPED TO MAKE MONEY FROM PEOPLE WHO WOULD PAY TO WATCH . TAKING THE STAND HERSELF LATER, THE GIRL A TALL BRUNETTE WEARING SKI PANTS, IDENTIFIED ONLY AS A CERTAIN " MISS X " RECALLED TELLING WARD THAT SHE WAS NOT IN THE LEAST INTERESTED IN WATCHING THAT KIND OF THING . " MY DARLING, " WARD REPLIED, " I DON'T WANT YOU TO WATCH . I WANT YOU TO PERFORM . " ALWAYS BILL . PERHAPS THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY THING ABOUT ALL THIS WAS THE UNLIKELY ASSOCIATION BETWEEN WARD AND HIS ARISTOCRATIC FRIEND, VISCOUNT ASTOR . CHRISTINE STARTLED THE JAMMED COURTROOM BY TESTIFYING THAT WHEN SHE AND MANDY WERE ONCE SHARING A FLAT, THEIR RENT WAS PARTLY PAID BY NONE OTHER THAN ASTOR HIMSELF . SON OF COMBATIVE, CONVIVIAL NANCY ASTOR, BRITAIN'S FIRST WOMAN M.P., YOUNG ASTOR GREW UP AT THE CENTER OF BRITAIN'S SOCIAL AND POLITICAL WORLDS . HIS UNCLE IS PROPRIETOR OF THE LONDON TIMES, HIS BROTHER EDITOR OF THE OBSERVER . THE " CLIVEDEN SET " WAS FAMED IN THE '30S NOT ONLY FOR ITS APPEASING POLITICS BUT ITS INTELLECTUAL SPARKLE ; AND CHARMING, GENEROUS BILL ASTOR TRIED TO CARRY ON THE TRADITION . HIS CELEBRATED PARTIES FREELY MIXED WRITERS, ARTISTS, POLITICIANS AND ARISTOCRATS . BUT THE THRICE-MARRIED ASTOR (CURRENTLY TO BRONWEN PUGH, FORMER TOP LONDON MODEL) WAS NEVER REALLY INTELLECTUALLY ATTUNED TO HIS SOPHISTICATED CIRCLE, WHICH IS PERHAPS WHY HE ALLOWED WARD TO PENETRATE THE FRINGES OF THE CLIVEDEN SET AND RENTED HIM A COTTAGE ON THE GROUNDS . THE WORLDS OF THE ASTORS AND OF WARD FREQUENTLY OVERLAPPED IN THE GARDEN AND AT THE SWIMMING POOL, WHERE BILL ASTOR OFTEN SEEMED TO HAVE MORE FUN THAN WITH HIS OWN RESPECTABLE GUESTS . IN HER TESTIMONY, MANDY SAID THAT SHE HAD SLEPT WITH ASTOR . WARD ALWAYS SAID, MANDY DECLARED, THAT THOUGH HE DID NOT HAVE ANY MONEY, " WE HAVE ALWAYS GOT BILL, WHO CAN HELP US . " UNDER CROSSEXAMINATION, MANDY WAS TOLD THAT ASTOR HAD DENIED HER ALLEGATION . SHE REPLIED QUICKLY : " HE WOULD, WOULDN'T HE ? IN A LETTER TO THE TIMES, THE HEAD OF ONE LONDON MODEL SCHOOL PROTESTED AGAINST " THE NEW AND GROSSLY UNFAIR NEWSPAPER PRACTICE OF CALLING ANY WOMAN A " MODEL' WHO SO DESCRIBES HERSELF AND SO LIBELING THE PROFESSION . WITH FAR MORE JUSTIFICATION THAN THE NEWSPAPERS HAVE SHOWN, THE MODEL GIRLS OF THIS AGENCY ARE NOW REFERRING TO MISS KEELER AS THE " WELLKNOWN JOURNALIST .