I agree with Gianni, I'm glad I, too, did not attempt it because your post is so well stated, much better than what I would have come up with....

It appears the couple fell in love pretty hard pretty quickly when they met in Weymouth. I also perceive that a comparison of the initiation of Lucy Steele's and Jane's secret engagements was much different. I'm sure Lucy's was the result of what Lady Catherine accused Lizzy of: using her arts and allurements which was probably the scenario of Lucy on an Edward who seemed to be rather depressed and floundering. We saw how skilled she was at reining in Robert. Jane, on the other hand, seems to have had some objections as according to Frank, "...I was fortunate enough to prevail, before we parted at Weymouth, and to induce the most upright female mind in creation to stoop in charity to a secret engagement." The words 'prevail' along with 'induce' lead me to the conclusion that while Jane had no problem with wanting to marry Frank, she had objections to being engaged to him in secret. No doubt, once she did agree, she thought it would be a quiet situation just between the two of them without involving others. She was, probably taken unawares by Frank's outrageous behavior of games and involving others.