Lovers' Meeting

"Journeys end in lovers’ meetings, every wise man’s son doth know." (William Shakespeare)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the disastrous first meeting of Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet at the Meryton Assembly provided each with a ready-made set of prejudices to apply to the other. But when a horrific rural accident reveals Darcy to be a man of active, intelligent benevolence, and Elizabeth, in the absence of her appalling family, to be an extraordinary lady of courage and decision - then, surely, the course of true love will run smoothly.

But alas, the lovers' meeting is not the end, but a new beginning. For though they have found each other, a seeming multitude of complications - a catastrophic flood, the last wishes of a dying friend, Lydia’s misfortunes, a dastardly member of parliament, and even their own fears - contrives to come between them and their journey’s end.