...is more the opposite. It doesn't say that Anne had hardly anybody to love *her* (although that's certainly true), but that *she* had hardly anybody to love. Further on in ch.4, we are told that LR thinks Anne would be particularly suited for marriage and motherhood because of "her warm affections". For a person with a lot of love to give, it can be almost as painful not to have someone or something to give that love to, as not to be loved in return. I think it also says something about the Elliot family - not only don't Sir Walter and Elizabeth love Anne, but they have no use for *her* love, either. It's as though the chilly narcissism that envelops them is quite sufficient to their needs.