Despite Anne's 'elegance of mind and sweetness of charecter';
the narrator says of Anne 'A few years before, Anne Elliot had been a very pretty girl, but her bloom had vanished early'. (ch.1) Her father found little to admire in her; any esteem dies when Anne becomes 'faded and thin'.

According to the narrator, the fading of Anne's bloom is due to the thwarting of her romantic hopes; 'her attachment and regrets for a long time clouded every enjoyment of youth; and an early loss of bloom and spririts had their lasting effect'. (ch. 4)
To me, this passage has a poignant and bitter-sweet feel.