"There is no society about him," said Miss Sophia; "he don't say two dozen words a day."
"But she is not with them," said Mrs. Gillespie.
"She is with them a great deal, aunt Matilda," said Ellen Chauncey, "and they teach her everything, and she does learn! She must be very clever; don't you think she is, Mamma? Mamma, she beats me entirely in speaking French, and she knows all about English history; and arithmetic! and did you ever hear her sing, Mamma?"
"I do not believe she beats you, as you call it, in generous estimation of others," said Mrs. Chauncey, smiling, and bending forward to kiss her daughter; "but what is the reason Ellen is so much better read in history than you?"
"I don't know, Mamma, unless I wish I wasn't so fond of reading stories."
"Ellen Montgomery is just as fond of them, I'll warrant," said
Miss Sophia.
"Yes oh, I know she is fond of them; but then Alice and Mr.
John don't let her read them, except now and then one."
"I fancy she does it, though, when their backs are turned," said Mrs. Gillespie.
"She! oh, aunt Matilda! she wouldn't do the least thing they don't like for the whole world. I know she never reads a story when she is here, unless it is my Sunday books, without asking Alice first."
"She is a most extraordinary child!" said Mrs. Gillespie.