"She talks so splendidly," Lucy said one day.
Not that the rest of us were by any means dumb.

The fact that English was forbidden did not silence us, and on Sunday when (to Madame's undisguised chagrin) Miss Mulberry allowed us to speak English, we chattered like sparrows during an anthem.

But Eleanor introduced a kind of talk which was new to most of us.
We could all chatter of people and places, and what was said on this occasion or what happened on another.

We had one good mimic (Emma), and two or three of us were smart in description.

We were observant of details and appearances, and we could one and all "natter" over our small grievances without wearying of the subject, and without ever speculating on their causes, or devising remedies for them.
But, with Eleanor, facts served more as points to talk from, than as talk in themselves.