"She might know something...."
"I don't think Miss Fossett would see much of this—Mrs. Partridge, I think the name was. But Mrs. Partridge and Marianne are bosom-friends. So it might be worth...." She interrupted herself. "Only isn't Miss Fossett...?"
"Isn't she what?"
"Well, then, doesn't she feel very strongly on the Deceased Wife's Sister question?"
"What would that have to do with it?"
"You know he married his deceased wife's sister?"
"Eh?" said the Rector. "So he did." And then, thoughtfully: "I see—I see—I think I see."
"See what?"
"The reason why she took her children away. She thinks they are hers legally—thinks she has a right to them."
Judith evidently did not see the point involved, and the Rector had to explain that the children of an unmarried woman belong legally to their mother, and that probably Marianne, not being Challis's wife according to the law of the land, had imagined that her right to possession of them could be maintained in a law-court.