I am a little suspicious of Lady Russell's influence over Anne. "To Lady Russell, indeed, she [Anne] was a most dear and highly valued god-daughter, favourite and friend. Lady Russell loved them all; but it was only in Anne that she could fancy the mother to revive again."(Ch 1) Might some part of Lady Russell's reasons for keeping Anne from engaging herself to FW be the desire to keep Anne more to herself?

Again in Chapter 2 when LR takes up the call for removal to Bath, I sense that she is consulting her own wishes more vigorously than she is looking out for what is best for Anne: "Lady Russell felt obliged to oppose her dear Anne's known wishes. It would be too much to expect Sir Walter to descend into a small house in his own neighbourhood. Anne herself would have found the mortifications of it more than she foresaw..." I cannot agree that Anne would be at all mortified by a small house in the neighborhood she knew so well, anymore than I can see Anne becoming mortified by marriage to FW. I think it much more likely that Lady Russell (along with Sir Walter, Elizabeth and Mary) are the ones who would have been mortified by both a small house and marriage to Wentworth!