Meaning of "Toffy Circles"

I'm reading "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester, and came across a sentence I could not understand (in bold):

"No you don't, Mr. Powell." Mary burst into laughter. "So that's it. You want me for a chaperone. Victorian word, isn't? So are you, Linc. Positively atavistic."

"I brand that as a lie. In toffy circles I'm known as the most progressive---"

"And what's that image? Oh. Knights of the Round Table. Sir Galahad Powell. And there's something underneath that. I---" Suddenly she stopped laughing and turned pale.

What is the meaning of that sentence? Best I could find, toffy is another spelling for toffee, but then what are toffy circles?

Solution 1:

In British slang, a toff is "a rich or upper-class person." Toffy appears to be the adjective form of this word, so the phrase presumably means "rich or upper-class groups of people."

Solution 2:

"Toffy" may refer to the English slang "toff", meaning a pretentious person. And "circles" probably refers to a group of people.

Solution 3:

Toffy is an alternative spelling of toffee. By itself, toffee refers to “a type of confectionery made by boiling sugar (or treacle, etc) with butter or milk”. However, the commonly-used combination toffee-nosed is an adjective meaning “snobbish, condescending or aloof”. Wiktionary shows the combination's etymology as “Probably from toff”, a toff being “A person of the upper class- or high-class-pretence who usually communicates an air of superiority”.

Wiktionary shows no etymology for toff, but OED1 (1926) shows:

Toff vulgar. Also rarely toft. [Perh. a vulgar perversion of TUFT, as formerly applied to a nobleman or gentleman-commoner at Oxford.] An appellation given by the lower classes to a person who is stylishly dressed or who has a smart appearance; a swell; hence, one of the well-to-do, a 'nob' ...
Hence Toffish, Toffy adjs. like or characteristic of a 'toff', stylish.

OED1 entries under the toffee, toffy heading refer only to candy. The etymology is obscure:

Toffee, toffy [Of uncertain origin: app. orig. dialectal, and sometimes spelt tuffy, toughy, as if named from its toughness; but the earlier form is the northern TAFFY, q. v.]

The OED1 (1919) entry for taffy shows no etymology for its “candy” and “soft soap” senses:

Taffy¹ The earlier form of TOFFEE, now Scotch, North Eng., and American.
1. A sweetmeat made from sugar or treacle, with butter, etc. : see TOFFEE. ...
2. U. S. slang. Crude or vulgar compliment or flattery; 'soft soap'; blarney. ...
3. attrib. and Comb., as taffy stand, stick; taffy-join, a reunion of young people for the making of taffy to which each contributes. ...
Taffy² [An ascribed Welsh pronunciation of Davy or David, in Welsh Dafydd.] A familiar nickname for a Welshman: cf. Paddy, Sawney, etc.

The half-dozen OED1 cites for Taffy¹ sense 1 date from 1817 to 1890, and the cites for Toffee, toffy from 1825 to 1896. The Great Vowel Shift occurred 1350–1700.