l of the renewal of his love:"He had not forgiven Anne Elliot. She had used him ill, deserted and disappointed him She had given him up to oblige others. It had been the effect of over-persuasion His bright proud eye spoke the happy conviction that he was nice; and Anne Elliot was not out of his thoughts, when he more than seriously described the woman he wished to meet with. ‘A strong mind, with sweetness of manner’, made the first and last of the description".Whilst we are thus informed by this mixed method of presentation of different types of consciousness, Anne is left floundering, guessing and interpreting his gestures and glances. He does not speak to her other than to say what civilities would demand, leading Anne to contrast past with present. The presence and influence of the past in their relationship is pinpointed in chapter VIII in attention to Wentworth’s talk of the ‘year six’:"There must be the same immediate association of thought, though she was very far from convincing it to be of equal pain."She is forced then to rely on interpretation of gestures and fastens on every sign of his feeling towards herself, for example when he silently pulls the child off her back making her equally "speechless". Likewise he silently but firmly hands her into the carriage noticing, perceiving and reading her feelings of discomfort and tiredness."He could not forgive her,- but he could not be unfeeling ... though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to another, still he could not see her suffer without the desire of giving her relief"(Chapter X)This is a significant and promising moment for Anne. Events seem all laid out for the engagement of Louisa and Wentworth’s engagement due to Henrietta’s resignation from the marital competition for Wentworth’s affections as she makes her way to Charles Hayter’s anticipating their reunion instead. This however is a sign of a g...
