I was one who felt that Anne was achieving some measure of closure regarding FW, but this week's chapters make it clear that this is not so.

When Anne leaves Lyme (CH12), the reader has a sense that there are two possible new men on her horizon, but we are very quickly disabused of that notion in this week's chapters. Benwick does not come (Ch14), and Anne "never could accept" Mr Elliot (CH17). It occurred to me that JA might have missed a trick here by structuring the novel in this way - the tension recgarding a possible second attachment might with advantage have been drawn out a little longer.

But JA was writing about wider themes than merely "will the heroine find a man?", and Anne's growth reflects this. Thank you for your thought provokig post - it has given me a different perspective.