Well, I only have 11 reviews (which is good actually) but if I had gotten 15 I would have updated earlier in the day instead of at night (or perhaps yesterday…tsk tsk to those nonreviewers lol, j/k) Oh, well, 11 or 15 reviews it was still exciting to see different people review for once. (not that I don't enjoy having the same people review, review all you want!, but it was fun seeing that there ARE more people reading this and enjoying it than I thought. But who am I to complain? I get about 4 to 9 reviews every chapter, that's pretty good, right?) anyway, peeps! Please keep reviewing!!! It's as fun for me to receive reviews as it is for you to get to read another chapter, well maybe not but whatever. Hope it's doesn't suck, I'm much better with humor than I am with drama. (By the way, it's short) Anyway, here it is! I wonder what will happen...

Mary could not believe what she just heard. Mr. Singleton, the one person she thought she could trust, convinced the man she had loved not to marry her. She didn't understand.

"Oh…oh my goodness." Mary said in astonishment and sat down in a fluster.

"Mary, I…"

"I should have never confided in you…" she said quietly. "I never should have…" Mary looked up. "How…how could you have done this?"

"Mary I was convinced…"

"How could you do such a thing you knew would hurt me!" she exclaimed. "Did you find it amusing?"

"No, no it wasn't a joke. I wouldn't do such a thing. You know that."

"I thought I knew you to be the type of person I could trust, the type of person who wouldn't use another's confidence against them…who wouldn't use my confidence against me!" Mary exclaimed.

"Mary, I only did it because I was convinced he didn't love you." He said desperately. "I was worried you'd end up unhappy, wishing you never married him."

"Wishing I'd never married him?" Mary yelled. "You think, you think my feelings for him had been the fleeting notions of some silly, little girl?"

"No, perhaps the contrary, which made it all the worse. I didn't want you to end up with someone who didn't love you as much as you loved him; as-as much as you deserved."

"What makes you so CONVINCED that I would have been unhappy? Who are you to concern yourself in such matters of my life?"

"Mary, after talking with him…" he said in desperation.

"And what is this about love! Wouldn't myself being in love with him have been enough? I would have been lucky with that!"

"Mary, that is not true!" he exclaimed.

"Oh isn't it? I doubt I will ever find another man who would marry me!"

"Mary, no…"

"It's highly unlikely that any man should ever find himself in love with me. I was lucky to have someone who would have married me even if he didn't love me! You've probably ruined my only chance of marriage or happiness!"

"Mary, please don't say that about yourself! It's not true! Somebody does love you." Mr. Singleton exclaimed. His voice softened. "I do."

Silence fell. Mary looked at Mr. Singleton in shock; he looked at her in despair.

"What?" she asked in a deathly quiet voice.

"I…I lo-"

"You love me? YOU LOVE ME!" Mary yelled. "Of all the selfish…How could you love me and be so selfish?"

"Mary, believe me, your happiness and well being was my main concern!" He pleaded.

Mary raised her hand causing Mr. Singleton to wince and they looked at each other once again in silence. Mary's angry features turned sad as she lowered her hand.

"Mr. Singleton, I am entirely convinced that there is only one way you can ever achieve any of my happiness." She said as tears began to form. "You must never come near me ever again." Mary turned and began walking away.

"Mary, wait!" Mr. Singleton said. Mary ignored him and, sobbing, ran off.

Mr. Singleton was worried for Mary while she was in such a state. For one, she was terribly upset and two, she was walking the opposite direction of home. Mr. Singleton followed her to make sure she wouldn't run into any trouble. She had hurried through Meryton and passed many people who took no notice of her, other than a confused Mr. Jenson who approached her in concern. She paid no heed and merely ran past him. Finally, Mary reached her Aunt and Uncle Philips' house, to Mr. Singleton's relief and, also, worry. Relief, for he knew Mary would be alright, and worry, for he wondered what explanation Mary was to give them.

Mary fled to her aunt and uncle's house in turmoil. However, being one with ability and experience to mask her emotions she succeeded in calming herself upon her arrival at the house. However, if they did notice her distress she could always pretend it was anxiety for her sister. Mary arrived at the house and knocked on the door. A servant was soon to answer and led her to Mrs. Philips who was in the sitting room. Mary entered the sitting room and her aunt looked up from her embroidery. Mary hadn't noticed how disheveled she appeared; her face was wet, and her eyes were bloodshot. Mrs. Philips was surprised to see her normally odd and quiet niece in such a state.

"Mary, whatever is the matter with you?"

"Lydia…eloped." Mary said tiredly as she handed the letter to her aunt and collapsed exhaustedly in a chair.

Mrs. Philips snatched the letter and looked at it.

"Harold! Harold, come here at once!" Mrs. Philips shouted.

"What is it that you want?" he grumbled as he entered the room.

"It's about Lydia!"

"Lydia?"

"Yes, she's eloped!"

Mr. Philips' eyes widened in surprise and he read the letter with his wife. They read it in grave silence as they learned of the sad state of their favorite niece; Mary stared tiredly at the floor. The Philips' discussed the matter amongst themselves and then interrogated Mary on matters she had little knowledge of. She weakly answered about their plans of Mr. Bennet's leave to hunt down the two accomplices and other matters. Finally, after a quarter of an hour, Mrs. Philips regarded her niece's pitiful state. Mary, like Lizzy, had never been one of her favorite nieces but there was something so distraught about her appearance that even someone as unconcerned as Mrs. Philips couldn't help having pity on her.

"And what of you?" Mrs. Philips said. "How could my sister and her husband send you out in such a state?"

"It's no fault of their own; I insisted. I hadn't realized I'd become upset along the way." Mary said quietly, eyes adverted to the floor.

The Philips easily deduced that the walk caused Mary to have only her thoughts for company, thus making her more upset than if she had been distracted by her books at home. Mr. and Mrs. Philips asked if she needed anything at all, and she answered that she needed some rest. They offered her the guest room and Mary requested uninterrupted sleep, that not even a servant would tend to her.

Rest, of course, was not what Mary partook in; rather, smothering her sobs in a pillow was her occupation. She was shocked, confused, and distraught over Mr. Singleton's utter betrayal. He had been the only one she could go to; before she had a friendship with him she spent most of her time stuffing her emotions and escaping to her books. He had been the only one she'd ever been able to express her feelings to and he had helped her to break away from her usual reclusive tendencies, even if only in his company. She knew he had helped her feel better about Mr. Collins, but now she discovered it was he who made her feel terrible in the first place. He had caused her the most distress she had ever experienced in her life and now she had no one to confide in. She wasn't sure that even Fordyce could handle her problem.

And all the rot about him being in love with her, she didn't know what to make of that. If he had been in love with her it was only logical that the one man, the one person to ever love her would turn out to be the one person who would hurt her the most. After all, wasn't it the trend that the most important people in her life caused her the most pain? She doubted he was truly in love with her, however; jealous infatuation perhaps. How could someone who loved her have no regard for her feelings?

Mr. Singleton's betrayal made Lydia's all the worse. Her anxiety for Lydia increased as well as her hopelessness for her sister. Back and forth over the two individuals she did cry as she lost herself in the dark abyss of despair. She only ceased when she cried herself into exhaustion and fell asleep.

Emo Mary is back. YAY! …uh…I will try to put the next chap up soon, maybe this week even, since this chapter and the next one are so short. :)