diff --git a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
index 4b507996..814b2080 100644
--- a/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
+++ b/lib/jekyll/converters/textile.rb
@@ -28,7 +28,11 @@ module Jekyll
     def convert(content)
       setup
       r = RedCloth.new(content)
-      r.hard_breaks = @config['redcloth']['hard_breaks']
+      
+      if !@config['redcloth'].nil? and !@config['redcloth']['hard_breaks'].nil?
+        r.hard_breaks = @config['redcloth']['hard_breaks'] 
+      end
+
       r.to_html
     end
   end
diff --git a/test/test_redcloth.rb b/test/test_redcloth.rb
index 9fd32be1..2b43fe24 100644
--- a/test/test_redcloth.rb
+++ b/test/test_redcloth.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,30 @@
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/helper'
 
 class TestRedCloth < Test::Unit::TestCase
+
+  context "RedCloth default (no explicit config) hard_breaks enabled" do
+    setup do
+      @textile = TextileConverter.new
+    end
+    
+    should "preserve single line breaks in HTML output" do 
+      assert_equal "<p>line1<br />\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
+    end
+  end
+
+  context "Default hard_breaks enabled w/ redcloth section, no hard_breaks value" do
+    setup do
+      config = {
+        'redcloth'      => {}
+        }
+      @textile = TextileConverter.new config
+    end
+    
+    should "preserve single line breaks in HTML output" do 
+      assert_equal "<p>line1<br />\nline2</p>", @textile.convert("p. line1\nline2").strip
+    end
+  end
+
   context "RedCloth with hard_breaks enabled" do
     setup do
       config = {