First Impressions-The creation of Pride and Prejudice

Prologue:

November 1796

The rain, which had continuously poured down from the heavens for two days straight, was still showing no signs of relenting. The gentle pitter-patter of it and the way in which it streaked down the windowpanes, forming intricate designs in a matter of seconds, was growing less and less satisfying as the time wore on-in fact, it was getting to the point of annoyance.

Jane's mind had been deeply engaged in a-what seemed distant-memory of earlier that week; Cassandra and herself had taken a delightful stroll one morning; basking in some of the last fine weather they'd have all year and hoping it would be around for a while.

'No such luck there' she thought to herself, with a mood dark enough to rival that of the storm clouds outside.

After brooding silently for a while longer, she tore her eyes away from the rain-spattered window and the grim landscape beyond it, and moved from the window seat where she had been residing, coming back into the vicinity of the people she loved best in the world.

Jane took up her usual chair and cast around for something to do, anything to take her mind away from the monotony that had been these past days. Coming up short with ideas, she glanced at her family members trying for some inspiration as for what to do.

Her charming sister, Cassandra, sat to her right, her eyes fixed intently on her embroidery; not that she needed to fixate her mind with it so-Cassandra could produce a truly stunning piece of embroidery with little effort-yet, as Jane supposed, she was probably trying to ease herself away from this confinement, which was as disagreeable to Cassandra as it was to herself. Embroidery however required qualities, which Jane happened to be rather lacking in: such limitless patience or the ability of continuous precision. No, embroidery did not seem the thing. As her gaze wondered round the room, fixing, in turn, on each of her family members and their various forms of amusement they had fashioned.

Her father, a Rev. George Austen had busied himself with a novel of some description-this was not such a great change, Jane noted to herself, that her father should be idling his time away by reading a novel. From a very young age it had always comforted Jane that there would always be a fairly vast collection of reading material around her Hampshire living. Her family had always been great readers and Jane had been no exception to this trait. It was one of the few habits she and her father shared-liking to employ their time with a good novel. However, feeling restless as she was, reading did not seem to appeal to her as it more than often did. She would have to make use of her time with a slightly different form of diversion, which was still yet to come to her.

As the time past however, Jane's initial thought trail of finding a source of amusement seemed to have dissolved, on realising-subconsciously-that observing her family was more than an adequate way to while away the time.

Upon glancing back at Cassandra, who now sat across the room, back turned and hunched, writing a letter as though in deepest secrecy, Jane could not help but smile, yet mingled with a twinge of sadness. By the way of his desperate secrecy it was plain enough that she was writing to a certain Mr. Fowle, Cassandra's husband to be, and, incidentally, the man who had captured her sister's heart. He was stationed in the Caribbean at present, serving as a chaplain for the militia stationed there. He had been gone for much longer than, even her patient countenance, could bear; and the letters between one another had become their one remaining lifeline to for them to hang onto; counting down the days until they would speak, face to face, once more.

Mr. Fowle was yet to receive a fixed date of his return; yet by the way her sister spoke he was likely to be on board a ship by the late spring months, then consequentially, by Cassandra's side, as a husband, before Christmas. Even though it did still seem an incredibly long time, Cassandra was comforted it was not the two and a half years they had initially thought would be the case.

Despite being uncommonly happy that her sister had found, so it seemed, the best of husbands. She still found part of herself wishing it wasn't so. After Mr. Fowle did return from the Caribbean and wed Cassandra, she would be alone with no one, save her parents, for company. As she looked back, thinking of the numerous farewells she had shared with her brothers as they left to make their ways in the world with new families or positions at sea or Oxford, Jane realised she must follow suit, weather that be by marriage, or some other means, she had to be able to lay her claims on something.

As her gaze wandered, yet again, to the dreariness of the world outside, Jane wondered which path she would eventually end up taking through this world. Until Cassandra's Mr. Fowle had left for the Caribbean, Jane had had little thought of her life beyond these walls, she had read in novels and seen with her own eyes many a person enter into a loveless marriage, it appeared to Jane to be a bonus if you even held your life's partner in high esteem, heaven forbid actually love them! Society, it seemed, was still, and would continue to be, the main concern of the majority of people entering into the marriage division. It seemed incomprehensible to Jane, as she had discovered more and more about the world in which she was growing into.

While growing up she had made one firm belief and was determined to stick by it for as log as she lived; she had vowed to never, under any circumstances, enter into a marriage where the partner was disagreeable to her. She had never had a desire to be elevated into society if it contained the sort of people who went against the choice she had made. She pitied them. Their minds, so clouded by new gowns and new carriages, never really thought how it would be to have any regard for their husband, or how it would be to have a conversation with him. She pitied the people whose eyes could not see beyond class boundaries and had to be in society to feel important. She vowed never to enter into that life.

'The more I see of the world, the more I am dissatisfied with it' Jane thought to herself and let out a sigh which went unnoticed by all those present.

A/N:Hi, well, i know its a bit different from the norm on here, as it's not technically a fan fic,but it seemed a good idea...to me at least lol...anyway, i've only written this so far but i'd really like some feedback as to whetherI should continue it!

I'll take anything; the good, bad, ugly...just a point in the right direction, even if it isthe recycle bin :oD

Thanks, Libby