'Well she may,' said Anne.
'When it leads her to go to Mechanics' Institutes,' said Rupert;
'that is the reason Anne respects her so much.'
'I advise you to throw no stones at her, Sir,' said Sir Edward; 'it
would be well if some people of my acquaintance were as upright in
acknowledging deficiencies in themselves, as she is.'
'Besides, I cannot see that Helen is conceited,' said Anne; 'if she
was, she would not be made unhappy by other people's criticisms.'
'Helen wants a just estimate of herself,' said Lady Merton; 'she
cares more for what people say of what she does, than whether it is
good in itself.'
'But, Anne,' said Sir Edward, 'why do not you claim to be the only
person in the world devoid of conceit?'
'Because I am conceited in all the ways which Rupert has mentioned,'
said Anne; 'I believe myself witty, and wise, and amiable, and
useful, and agreeable, and I do not like taking advice, and I am very
angry when my friends are abused, and I do believe I think I have the
most exquisite brother in the world; and besides, if I said I was not
conceited it would be the best possible proof of the contrary.
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