"I remember once when I was a little girl, Mother corrected me for being vain, and said it was horrid of me to think I was pretty. I thought it over, and then I came back to her and explained that I didn't think I was pretty--I only thought I was better looking than a frog, and I asked her if it was 'vainness' to think I was better looking than a frog, and she agreed it wasn't. In the same way I don't think it is a 'vainness' of us to think we are finer characters than snails, do you?" "By no means. And I go farther: I don't even think it is 'vainness' on your part to think you are pretty." Fay laughed. "I'm glad it isn't, for I do." "You darling!" "And I'm not selfish in my 'vainness' either," she went on, "or narrow. I think you are very good looking too; _much_ better looking than a frog, Reggie, _much_!" "You silly child, what nonsense you are talking! You'll really make me horribly vain if you go on like this!" I said reprovingly. But I liked it, nevertheless. "And a jolly good thing if I did! You aren't vain enough; it's the one flaw in your otherwise admirable character." "It's much too soon for you to begin to find out your husband's faults, Fay; you oughtn't to have discovered one for at least six months. You'll make a terrible wife if you go on like this!" "I'm not finding out my husband's faults: I'm only regretting that he doesn't possess one." "He is all fault that hath no fault at all," I quoted. "Oh, I didn't mean that you don't possess a fault at all, far from it; I mean you don't possess one particular fault, namely, vanity, and that it would be a jolly sight better for you if you did. You don't think half well enough of yourself, Reggie, you don't really, and it is such a pity. You've no idea how perfectly good and clever and altogether splendid you are." "Then you ought to commend me for my humility instead of scolding me like this," I urged in self-defence. Fay shook her curly head. "Humility is a thing which can very soon be overdone--especially in a case like yours." "For instance?" "Well, you aren't properly proud of the things you ought to be proud of, and you've got such lots of them," explained Fay, with some lack of lucidity. "Anyhow I'm jolly proud of the one thing I've a right to be proud of, and that is my wife," I replied. "That's you all over, wrapping other people up in the mantle of your own virtues, and then admiring the other people for being so awfully well dressed. It's really you that makes us such a tremendously attractive couple. People like me because I'm your wife, and yet you'll always believe they like you because you're my husband. It really is stupid to put the cart before the horse in that way, Reggie."