Lives Begun in Obscurity: A Pride & Prejudice Variation

The Carringtons live at their estate of Holder Heights in Staffordshire. The Earl and Countess of Holder have a five year old son when they are blessed with twin girls in 1790, Alicia and Bethany.

Lady Edith Carrington née Hampton has two older sisters, the Countesses of Jersey and Matlock. In early August of 1791, the twins, who are only about 18 months old, are kidnapped.

There is never a ransom demand received, sending the girl's loving parents into a deep despair. All of the extensive searching is futile, no trace is found of the beloved girls.

Thomas Bennet is the second son and an academic. He is perfectly happy for his older brother, Timothy, to be the master of Longbourn. By 1791 the Longbourn Bennets have three sons, making the entail irrelevant.

At the time, Thomas and his beloved wife Fanny, are living in a little town in Derbyshire where he is headmaster and a teacher in a school. The couple are blissfully happy especially as they were blessed with twin girls, Elizabeth and Jane in March 1790.

The worst news is received, all the Bennets at Longbourn fall victims of an outbreak of the plague. Bennet and Fanny take their twins and return to the Meryton neighbourhood in order to take up the management of the estate.

In 1810 Netherfield Park is leased by Mr. Charles Bingley. Fitzwilliam Darcy is his guest and after being there a few days, he and Bingley see two young ladies racing stallions in a field of the neighbouring estate.

Darcy starts to think he may have stumbled onto a mystery which has stymied the family for almost nineteen years. As the story progresses, the truth of both sets of twins will be revealed as well as those responsible for what happened.

Some of the villains from canon are present, like Wickham, Lady Catherine, Miss Bingley, and Collins. Some of them have small roles, one may be redeemed, and others could have a larger role in this tale.

Yes, this is a 'not a Bennet' story, or in this case, a 'not Bennets' tale.