110 THE COUSINS.

as you say when I saw strangers, and was afraid
to look them in the face; but my teacher told me
that, though I might think this was being very
humble, I was mistaken; that indeed it was vanity
that made me fecl so.”

“Vanity! I don’t see how that could be,” said
Mary.

“Why, she said, if I was really humble, I
would not suppose that people were noticing me,
and thinking of me all the time. She said that
strangers scldoni paid much attention to what
children said or did, unless they saw that they
wished to be noticed.”

“That may be with some children,” said Lucy,
“but it is not so with all; for I am sure, Cousin
Mary, you have secn that strangers often take
notice of me. Even persons that did not know
my papa and mamma have asked who I was, and
talked to me a great deal, when they have met me
at other houses.”

“But maybe, Cousin Lucy, they thought you
wanted to be noticed,” said Mary, simply.

Lucy’s face grew red, and she would, perhaps,
have made an angry answer to this, but Clara