Sentence:  She was seated, as she observed, on her own brother's hearth, and had been Jane Featherstone five-and-twenty years before she had been Jane Waule, which entitled her to speak when her own brother's name had been <WSD>made free with</WSD> by those who had no right to it. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To exploit (something), use freely, use to one's own advantage