I love Anne because, although the daughter of a Baronet, she is almost totally unpretentious as to what she looks for in friendships. From Ch 16:

"..."My idea of good company, Mr. Elliot, is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company."

And from Ch 17, she re-meets the remarkable woman who fits the above description: (choosing from a number of superlatives offered)

".... Anne found in Mrs. Smith the good sense and agreeable manners which she had almost ventured to depend on, and a disposition to converse and be cheerful beyond her expectation. Neither the dissipations of the past -- and she had lived very much in the world -- nor the restrictions of the present, neither sickness nor sorrow seemed to have closed her heart or ruined her spirits. In the course of a second visit she talked with great openness, and Anne's astonishment increased...."

Anne is richly blessed by her friends; Sir Walter doesn't know he is impoverished by contrast!