All this while he lay at my mother to find out, if possible, what was the meaning of that dreadful expression of mine, as he called it, which I mentioned before: namely, that I was not his lawful wife, nor my children his legal children.
Et pendant tout ce temps il assiégeait ma mère, afin de découvrir, si possible, ce que signifiait l'affreuse expression dont je m'étais servie, comme il disait, quand je lui avais crié que je n'étais pas sa femme devant la loi, ni mes enfants n'étaient les siens devant la loi.