diff --git a/Changelog b/Changelog
index 94f24ea..0a421cc 100644
--- a/Changelog
+++ b/Changelog
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+ 2.04    - added RFE from rt.cpan.org (ID: 1218). the ::Interpolate
+	   module populates now uses of uninitialized variables in
+	   config files itself instead of just letting perl die().
+	   The other suggestion of the RFE was declined.
+
  2.03    - fixed bug in the _parse() routine (better: design flaw).
            after the last patch for allowing whitespaces in
 	   option names, it had a problem with here-docs which
diff --git a/General/Interpolated.pm b/General/Interpolated.pm
index 5fc1131..34e4ff2 100644
--- a/General/Interpolated.pm
+++ b/General/Interpolated.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 package Config::General::Interpolated;
-$Config::General::Interpolated::VERSION = "1.3";
+$Config::General::Interpolated::VERSION = "1.4";
 
 use strict;
 use Carp;
@@ -70,9 +70,15 @@ sub _vars {
       }
       else {
 	$value =~ s{$this->{regex}}{
-	  my $v = $varstack{$3} || $stack->{$3};
-	  $v = '' if ref($v);
-	  $1 . $v;
+	  my $con = $1;
+	  my $var = $3;
+	  my $v = $varstack{$var} || $stack->{$var};
+	  if (defined $v) {
+	    $con . $v;
+	  }
+	  else {
+	    croak "Use of uninitialized variable \$" . $var . "\n";
+	  }
 	}egx;
       }
 
@@ -210,7 +216,7 @@ See L<http://www.perl.com/perl/misc/Artistic.html>
 
 =head1 VERSION
 
-1.3
+1.4
 
 =cut
 
diff --git a/README b/README
index df159df..148b01e 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -98,4 +98,4 @@ AUTHOR
 
 
 VERSION
-	2.03
+	2.04