Sense and sensibility! HELP!?

4. Mrs. Palmer often contradicts herself; for example, when speaking of Willoughby, she says, “I know him extremely well…not that I ever spoke to him, indeed; but I have seen him for ever in town.” She also says that although Colonel Brandon didn’t verbally confirm that Marianne and Willoughby will be married: “…he looked as if he knows it to be true, so from that moment I set it down as certain.” Through her descriptions of Mrs. Palmer’s speech and behavior, as well as through Elinor’s ysis of evidence, what is the author saying about her views of gossip and people’s use of language?