She probably went a little pale too - knowing that he would be coming in. I can imagine at that first meeting she looked rather wretched. When he left, she thought "It is over! it is over!" she repeated to herself again, and again, in nervous gratitude. "The worst is over!" Poor Anne.

As to the spell being broken, I'm not too sure. When telling his sister what he wanted in a wife, "Anne Elliot was not out of his thoughts, when he more seriously described the woman he should wish to meet with. "A strong mind, with sweetness of manner," made the first and the last of the description. "This is the woman I want," said he. "Something a little inferior I shall of course put up with, but it must not be much. If I am a fool, I shall be a fool indeed, for I have thought on the subject more than most men." Ch7

He wants someone exactly like Anne just not Anne.

I think Anne improved after this first meeting - CW also starts to pay her more consideration - wonders why she never dances, helps her with the little boy, and sees her to the carriage - this is a lot more than anyone else does for her.

When he finds out that she refused Charles, I think he starts to view her character differently. ie. She was persuaded not to marry him but not persuaded not to love him. She jilted him but never loved another.

Certainly years of melancholy and bad company had Anne looking worse than a happier woman would (sad people rarely look pretty) but I think she started to improve on CW almost immediately after the first meeting.