'See here, sir,' said Dench, and drew a seat to the fireside, whereupon Mr. Holwood put one hand behind him, the other between his knees to the chair, and turned the chair and himself about, so as to face the boatman. 'Jane don't believe as she was properly married. Says I to her, my dear, he was under age, a mere boy.'
'But it was not so. I was twenty-one.'
'Well, well, sir, she supposes you were not, and that suffices. Says I to her, in the eye of the law, that did for you. It was no marriage at all. And then again, says I, where did it take place?'
'In Rousdon Church.'
'True you are, sir, but was not the church ruinated? The roof was off, and no service was ever said in it. She knows that, and in the eye of the law, says I, a church don't hold good if the roof be off.'
'It is not so.'
'Never mind. She has been led to think so. Then, said I, that is not all, the parson had been unfrocked by the bishop. And in the eye of the law——'
'But was he so?'
'My dear sir, I don't know. But she thinks it so; that is all we need concern ourselves about. You see, sir, we have her here with that blessed marriage undermined in three ways, and she is convinced it was a take-in and nothing further in the eye of the law.'