At present, the thought of calm conversation with such a woman made a soothing contrast to the riot excited in him by Cecily.
Did she read his mind?
For one thing, it was not impossible that the Spences had spoken freely in her presence of himself and his odd relations to the girl; there was no doubting how _they_ regarded him.
Possibly he was a frequent subject of discussion between Eleanor and her cousin.

Mature women could talk with each other freely of these things.
On the other hand, whatever Mrs.Lessingham might have in her mind, she certainly would not expose it in dialogue with her niece.

Cecily was in an unusual position for a girl of her age; she had, he believed, no intimate friend; at all events, she had none who also knew him.

Girls, to be sure, had their own way of talking over delicate points, just as married women had theirs, and with intimates of the ordinary kind Cecily must have come by now to consider her guardian as a male creature of flesh and blood.

What did it mean, that she did not?
A question difficult of debate, involving much that the mind is wont to slur over in natural scruple.