You beat me to it! I was struck by this as well. Have already read it many times I wanted to read it very carefully this time to see if I notice anything different and sure enough I noticed that Miss Anne is barely mentioned from the beginning and thought it was interesting. If someone sat down to read just the first chapter they would have no idea that it was about Anne Elliot instead of Elizabeth Elliot and Sir Walter. Not sure what I think of this device yet LOL.