Chapter 1:
February 1797The months had past rather slowly, and, with lack of events rather drearily, far to drearily for Jane's liking at any rate. Christmas had passed and the year had come to a close; January had trundled through in the only way January knew how and before anyone had realised, it was February.
After church one Sunday she bade her father farewell and explained she was going to take a walk and would be back before the afternoon; the weather had been uncommonly good that morning and Jane decided to use this to her full advantage by scurrying along the country paths she had not visited in months. When out amongst the country Jane was finally free to let her thoughts run away with her; her mind raced, which was something of a rarity, as young lady's minds were not encouraged to 'race' and most ladies never thought of, thinking.
As she browsed over many-a-topic in her mind, her thoughts struck back to some of the scenes she had witnessed in church earlier that morning. A certain trait of Jane's was to observe a person with them being unawares, she had found you really do see the most insightful things into one's character while doing this.
Although it was most unbecoming for a young lady, or anyone for that matter, to stare at another for a period of time, Jane had observed Mr. Vikes, the butcher, and the ways in which he had feigned attentiveness and full concentration at first, his back straight, eyes fixated on her father, with the image of him drinking in every word uttered from his mouth; as time drew on she noticed his posture slide and his eyes glaze over with his right hand subconsciously fingering his wedding band. The change in his countenance had been rather amusing to watch, but she had felt a touch affronted at his behaviour for she had never found her father's sermons odiously dull. On the contrary, she believed he delivered them rather well.
However, this was not her motive of venturing out here, to have her mind judge Mr. Vikes attention span, no. Recently her mind had been racing more than usual, her current writing escapades had been put to one side during the cold winter-she had finished most and the others had held little backbone in her eyes; subsequently she had began a new and, what she had found, more established piece which she was enjoying immensely. Unable to think of a title Jane had powered on nonetheless, it would be a long-winded love story, which would contain many obstacles and misconceptions of characters.
The characters had, however been slightly more troublesome. Her heroine, whilst almost complete, was, so she felt, lacking in some qualities. She, for she was currently without a name, would have to be quick-witted along with beautiful to set her apart. She would take a keen interest in matchmaking, especially for her friends and sisters. There could be a possibility of one of her pairings backfiring on her and teach her a lesson. However Jane wasn't sure whether the plot would be too dramatic with this and resolved to ponder the matter later.
Her heroine's matchmaking tendencies would, she planned, create a way for her to be ignorant of her suitor's intentions and other's true characters, thus leading to a climax of realisation.
With all this, she would be moderately accomplished, with talents in every field and the promise to be excellent with dedication. Regretfully she would never obtain this status in any, as she would prefer to try everything due to a slightly flighty temperament.
But even so, there was still a sense of something misplaced or not quite fitting and Jane could not think of it for the life of her.
The heroine's, family hadn't been given a large amount of thought. She had decided her elder sister to be everything charming, somewhat like dear Cassandra, and for the two to be confidantes of one another. There would be younger siblings, perhaps one or two but she had no consequence for them at present.
The parents had originally both favoured the eldest, but then she could not see the sisters having a close companionship if that were the case. She decided upon her heroine being her fathers favourite and the eldest the mothers simply for the fact she was so charming.
"And, she felt the eldest had the best chance of marrying well!" she cried aloud as though she had made some great discovery, and then laughed at her own foolishness. Suddenly a problem of a most grievous nature struck her.
How could she have both the mother and her heroine orientated around matchmaking? She loved the idea of her impish heroine imposing herself onto her unsuspecting friends and siblings; it made for great diversion indeed!
On the other hand, it made perfect sense for the mother to be more concerned about matrimony than her witty daughter-especially if there were three or four offspring in the family.
It would just not do for there to be two matchmakers in the family.
Should she simply write off the mother? Or cast-aside the particular trait in the daughter and pick it up at another time? It did seem a great loss. But maybe it would do well to leave it at the present.
Maybe a review of her heroine was in order. With that thought trapped in her mind, Jane bounded off down the path in the direction of home.
When she arrived at her front door she took a second to glance over her apparel and received a small surprise: The fine weather and her thoughts had deceived and distracted her into thinking the paths which she had wandered along were dry. Of course it is very rare for country paths to be so in February and this had resulted in Jane's boots and petticoat to be filthy dirty and quite disgusting. She hoped that Warren, the family's manservant, wouldn't be too cross with the state of her boots. As for her petticoat, she felt it best to change out of it straight away and deal with it when the time came. Jane felt she could do without that particular conversation at the present moment, as she was full set to make alterations to her budding characters.
After having changed, Jane returned downstairs to her favourite spot by the window, where her mother had insisted upon moving or purchasing a small desk to place their for Jane to write on. It was a very delicate, pretty little desk and Jane was very grateful for it. As she settled down to write her mother herself entered the room apparently searching for something.
"Hello mama"
"Oh. Jane dear, you haven't seen the new bottle of ink I bought last Tuesday? Is that not it? She accused, pointing at the ink perching on the top of Jane's desk.
"No, this has been on my desk for at least a fortnight, it's not half full. Look."
" Very well. It's of no great importance anyway. Oh, speaking of importance. The Ferfax's struck up a conversation with me after church today, after you had disappeared on your walk, their niece is coming to stay with them for a month or so, very soon, I daresay, Elizabeth her name is-she sounded a very pleasant girl, very accomplished in the piano. However, those Ferfax's do go on-I feel we could be quite opposed to this Elizabeth Ferfax by the date of her arrival."
"Mama" Jane said amidst their laughter, but agreeing about the amount of desire they would have to meet this Elizabeth Ferfax when the time did come.
Once her mother had left her to her own thoughts, she began editing her heroine and whilst in the process of doing so an idea hit her. Eliza, Lizzy, Elizabeth! What a pleasant name for her heroine, diverse and could be made fit for society or fit for family and friends. It was perfect.
With that obstacle overcome. Jane continued her alterations with a small, knowing smile gracing her lips as the sun set outside thought the window beside her.
A/N: Long time no, er,hear,I guess. Anyway hi, sorry about the abnormally long wait. Ithink afterI posted it, I couldnt think where to gonext...
Thanks so much for you lovely reveiws, peoplewho reveiwed and i really hope you enjoyed this!