renewed his addresses to Anne by first writing to her father, taking that risk, out of his love for her. If love is daring, dashing and bold, let it then have courage to act. At that distance, there was very little to be risked, even less than coming back into Anne's area years and years later.

He might even have bitten the bullet and written first to her Godmother, making tentative enquiries, etc. He may have used his brother, Edward, as an intermediary, I don't know. The Captain, by his own admission (this is why I think he is really a good match for Anne in the end, because he knows himself better), he ought to have approached her sooner, but was too angry and had a lot of pride.

If he admits this himself, what else can we say but that love's path can be rocky, and given a union between imperfect humans, one soft and yielding, and the other rigid, it's going to take some time for them to meet in the middle, which is what is required for true love. Anne is totally clueless as to his situation while he is away from her. All she has is the knowledge he has not yet married, from her Navy lists. Not much to go on.

His behaviour once he gets back is exclusion of her, not because of any other reason that this burning anger has to have it's outlet. He is wrong about Anne, but it's not until there is a major plot change, that this comes to be resolved.

I think the Captain resolves it by the end, and often my feelings toward him are like those for Mr Darcy, and his overtures to Elizabeth. The pride factor does create issues of communication breakdowns and misunderstandings.

Now do not beat me, but both men state at the end of the respective novels that they grateful for these women who help them see themselves. (I didn't write the novels, this is JA's conclusion in each case, so I only have that to go by;-).) But even though there is misunderstanding and pride, both men come out shining, to their credit, and the women learn to know them better.