I am always struck by the fact that when Captain Wentworth pulls little Walter off Anne's back at the Cottage, and then entertains the child by studiously making noise with him, Anne's assumption is that "he meant to avoid hearing her thanks, and rather sought to testify that her conversation was the last of his wants"--rather than that he--literally--just wanted to keep the child off her back and continue helping her out.

Considering that and some of Anne's other suppositions about what the captain was thinking, it surprises me a little that she then takes his getting her a ride in the Crofts' carriage as 'an impulse of pure, though unacknowledged friendship' and not just that he was trying to get rid of her on the walk.