"My dear, dear girl," says Scrope, "if I were to speak forever, I could not tell you how I long for and desire your happiness. If your life proves as calm and peaceful as I wish it, it will be a desirable life indeed! You have thought of me as your brother: let me be your brother indeed,--one in whom you can confide and trust should trouble overtake you." He says this very solemnly, and again Clarissa's eyes fill with tears. She does now what she has not done since she was a little, impulsive, loving girl: she lifts her head and presses her lips to his cheek. For one brief moment he holds her in his arms, returning her caress, warmly, it is true, but with ineffable sadness. To her, this embrace is but the sealing of a fresh bond between them. To him it is a silent farewell, a final wrenching of the old sweet ties that have endured so long. Up to this she has been everything to him,--far more than he ever dreamed until the rude awakening came,--the one bright spot in his existence; but now all is changed, and she belongs to another. He puts her gently from him, and, with a kindly word and smile, leads her to the garden gate, and so round to where her ponies are impatiently awaiting her coming: after which he bids her good-by, and, turning, goes indoors, and locks himself into his own private den. CHAPTER XII. "The snow is on the mountain, The frost is on the vale, The ice hangs o'er the fountain, The storm rides on the gale."--OUSELEY. Clarissa's letter to Georgie Broughton receives a most tender response,--tender as it is grateful. The girl writes thankfully, heartily, and expresses almost passionate delight at Clarissa's instantaneous and ready sympathy. The letter is short, but full of feeling. It conveys to Clarissa the sad impression that the poor child's heart is dry and barren for lack of that gracious dew called love, without which not one of us can taste the blessedness of life. "Nothing is true but love, nor aught of worth; Love is the incense which doth sweeten earth." So sings Trench. To Clarissa, just now, his words convey nothing less than the very embodiment of truth. That Georgie should be unhappy for want of this vital essence cuts her to the heart,--the more so that Georgie persistently refuses to come to Gowran.