JAFF is full of What if scenarios. I have written seven of them, and am on my eighth now. What if the Rosings party had more time to spend together. So, I burned down the parsonage, and Elizabeth, Maria, Mrs. Collins, and Mr. Collins are living under the same roof as Lady Catherine and Mr. Darcy.

So how do they behave? Many social conventions are out the window, as they are stuck together and will see each other in passing. Entertainments and conversations get more in depth as they have a lot more time to kill together.

Elizabeth is not a tom boy, but she was raised by a father who wanted a son, and she is her father’s favorites. Will she be too masculine for the gentlemen? Will she best them at gentlemen’s games. Of course. She is a gamer. She will rise to the challenges they set for her.

Another issue with living together is the fact that they will speak more openly with each other. They have more chances at eavesdropping (inadvertently, of course, for these characters are “too honorable” for anything else). So conflicts burst more frequently and the disastrous first proposal scene is downgraded. Maybe they even fall in love before the proposal happens. Elizabeth said she only needed to get to know Mr. Darcy better in the original.

Thank you, Miss Jane Austen for making such a wonderful book that is filled with so many what if possibilities. If you were not such a great author, I would never have started writing (maybe some would prefer it that way, but I don’t like haters).