I just noticed for the first time JA's wording of the following:

"...to which expedients she afterwards added the HAPPY thought of their taking no present down to Anne, as had been the usual yearly custom."

What an awful idea for a sister to come up with. It is the use of the word Happy (my captials by the way) that just struck me and makes me think that Jane is really hitting the point here of just how Anne is looked upon in the family. Almost as a charity case that they do nice things when finances allow it, but kindness to Anne is one of the first things to go as money gets tight. Before reduction of almost anything else.