Overall, I believe the revision was very smart and gave us a much more emotionally satisfactory ending (The Letter!). However, the cancelled chapters, I believe, do answer the question of just how much JA felt the Admiral knew...

I think it's quite apparent he was absolutely clueless. When reading the debate concerning just what the Admiral was trying to convey to Anne during his conversation about CW starting over again, I desperately wanted to reference the cancelled chapters. It seems to me that matching up CW and Anne never entered into the Admiral's mind--what Sophia thought is another matter entirely! He is a straighforward, aboveboard man with no clue as to emotional undercurrents.

I think the revised chapters show more clearly the dawning of CW's understanding of Anne's motivations in ending the engagement. And I also like that he's shown as a decisive, impulsive man of action...seizing the opportunity to pour his passions out in a letter because he cannot help himself...taking the helm in the relationship and bravely risking all. The cancelled chapters seem too passive for such a passionate man...a little too piano for my taste! ;-) I also like seeing Anne so flustered, trying to recover from The Letter, desperately trying to relay the message to CW through innocent interpreters, and then giving him smiling encouragement.