Hi everyone, another weekend and I am back again :D

Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers and readers, I love you all.

Avanell: To your questions, well maybe he was going to ask her, but maybe not :D We'll never know and yes she left, you'll see in the next chapter if Henry follows her

caryfairy: Well, he didn't really agree did he? Mary was gone before he could actually do something… and about the hordes of girls, who says there aren't this is Mary's POV and she doesn't know about that kind of things, as she just not interested in it :D

mysweetkat: I thought so too, so I just had to write a Mary story, as there are not enough out there

kggirl: Well, you'll have to wait and find out, maybe he is a heartbreaker, but then again, maybe he is serious … who knows… except for Henry :D

Alright, now enough of the boring A/N and on with the story and don't forget to review

One week later I sat in our small salon in Hertfordshire and played the piano. Every time I did it I thought of my friend Georgiana, god how I missed her, she had been my first and closest female friend. In those months we spent together, I talked with her about almost everything, she always listened to my fears and worries and I to hers. I had felt wanted for the first time in my life.

With a sigh I stopped playing the piano and got up from the bench. Slowly I walked over to the window and looked over the grounds. The snow had finally fully melted and soon the first green would appear, which announced that spring was near.

Usually I liked this time of the year, when everything seemed to wake from it's slumber, but this year I couldn't find my enthusiasm about it. Probably because I was more unhappy with my life than I had been before. Those weeks at Pemberley had shown me how life could be and in comparison my life now was nothing.

I sighed deeply when I heard quick footsteps and shortly after that my mother, followed by Kitty hurried into the room.

They both looked very excited which made me feel uneasy, because I usually didn't like what they did.

"Mary, we are going to town. We need new ribbons." I had to suppress a groan, because new ribbons meant another ball.

"What does that have to do with me?" I asked hoping they would let me stay at home while they went to shop for some new ribbons.

"You have to come too silly, after all you could use some new ribbons too. After Mary and Lizzy leaving the house you are the oldest now, so it is time for you to find a husband. I am not going to live forever and neither will your father, so you have to find a man that will take care of you when we are no longer." I knew this speech by heart, because since Lizzy had gotten married I heard it at least twice a week.

Sure I wanted to get married, but before that I had to find the right man. Thinking of that an image of Henry's smiling face flashed before my eyes. I shook my head to get rid of this picture because there would never be anything more between us than there had been during the months at Pemberley. He hadn't written a letter since then and I hadn't really expected him to, though I couldn't help to be a little disappointed.

"I will just get my cloak." I finally answered, knowing it was of no use to argue with her.

I quickly left the salon and grabbed my cloak from the nearby coat hook, I put it on while my mother and Kitty walked past me out of the house. They were chatting happily about the upcoming dance and that hopefully a lot of good looking AND rich Gentlemen would be there.

I followed them with a little distance, hoping they wouldn't try to involve me in their conversation. But then again they had never before, so they probably wouldn't start now.

We walked the small distance to the city where the stores were located, a lot of people were on the streets as well, all of them happily chatting with someone. Again I felt completely out of place, god I missed Pemberley.

"Mary look, these green ribbons will really bring out your eyes and maybe distract a little from… well how plain you are." And again I felt like I was nothing, my mother was very good with making me feel that way just with a few words.

"They look very pretty." I replied and tried to hide the hurt tone in my voice, but she probably wasn't even listening to me. As if to confirm my assumption my mother continued:

"Or maybe better the blue ones, they do not attract as much attention, don't want to have too much attention on you." the last part she mumbled more for herself, of that I was sure, she probably didn't even realize that she had said it out loud.

"No, we really don't want that." I muttered under my breath and turned around, all I wanted to do was to go home again and I thought that my mother wouldn't even notice my absence.

So quietly I left the shop and took a deep breath standing in front of it, then I turned and walked back to our house and as I had thought my mother didn't even realize that I had left the store.

We were on our way to one of the finest houses in all of Hertfordshire. It had been bought by a wealthy family some time ago. But until now they hadn't been present.

To my mother's immense dissatisfaction, this family didn't have sons, they only had one daughter a little older than me.

Our small carriage stopped in front of the huge mansion and we climbed out of it. I suppressed a heavy sigh, because my mother had seen me try to sneak a book out of our house. She had forced me to leave it behind and now there was nothing for me to do at this ball.

We walked into the huge entrance hall, it was lit with hundreds of candles and it looked wonderful. This really was a beautiful mansion.

Soon we stood in front of the hosts and my father introduced us:

"This is my wife and two of my daughters. Mary and Kitty." We curtsied and I couldn't help but stare at the daughter of the host. She must have been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Even Jane seemed plain in comparison to her.

She was tall and slender, but still with soft curves in all the right places. Her skin was snow white and flawless. She had bright blue eyes and honey colored hair that was skillfully pinned to the back of her head.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, these are my wife Eleanor and our daughter Camille." the man introduced them. They shortly curtsied and I was amazed by how graceful Camille was.

Obviously my mother had seen it too, because shortly after we entered the ballroom and our hosts was out of our sight, she huffed:

"Oh dear, have you seen them, they are so over the top. And they behave like they are better than everybody else."

Well they were, I couldn't help but think while separating from my family. I wasn't keen on spending the whole evening in their presence. So I went to search for a comfortable chair and there I would just wait until the whole festivity was over.

Fortunately it didn't take long until I found a deserted corner with a few chairs, so I sat down on one and looked at the crowd. They were all dancing happily and somehow I envied them, or more their ability to enjoy such festivities.

With a sigh I looked at the ceiling and hoped that the ball would be over soon.

As the evening progressed, more and more people gathered around the corner where I sat. They talked and laughed without even glancing my way.

"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" a male voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked up at a middle aged man.

"No, of course not." I replied politely and he sat down next to me, smiling all the time. I wasn't quite sure why he did it until he started to speak again, his brown eyes fixed on my face:

"I've been watching you throughout the night."

That shocked me, why should he do that?

He obviously saw my question, because his smile became wider before he continued:

"You are so different than all the other ladies."

That's it, another love interest for Mary? Who knows, if you want to know, stay tuned.

Oh and please review :D