We project our own inability on the Spirit. False Step is an error in mental ‘rationality’ that undermines our own capacity for accomplishment. This article illustrates the process of making and avoiding False Steps by incidents in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice. This article analyzes how an apparent catastrophe arising from Lydia’s elopement with Wickham was avoided because for a variety of reasons the principal characters did not simply resign themselves to the negative outcome.