At this time (Ch 4), Anne seems to be attached to the memory of Frederick Wentworth "...who could bear a comparison with Frederick Wentworth, as he stood in her memory".

While time may have softened her attachment, it probably also made him even more perfect in memory than he was in reality. JA knows that we tend to remember the good and forget the bad. With every year that passes, Anne remembers more and more of Captain Wentworth's perfections and forgets more and more of his faults. No real human could possibly compete against the perfect memory of the 'good old days that never were'.