II.

"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.

"DEAREST CLARISSA,--Do not think me cold or ungrateful,"--so
she writes,--"but, were I to go to you and feel again the
warmth and tenderness of a home, it might unfit me for the
life of trouble and work that must lie before me. 'Summer is
when we love and are beloved,' and, of course, such summer is
over for me. I know my task will be no light or easy one; but
I have made up my mind to it, and indeed am thankful for it,
as any change from this must of necessity be pleasant. And,
besides, I may not be a governess forever. I have yet another
plan in my head,--something papa and I agreed upon, before he
left me,--that may put an end to my difficulties sooner than
I think. I will tell you of it some time, when we meet."

"Poor darling," says Clarissa, "what a wretched little letter!" She
sighs, and folds it up, and wonders vaguely what this other plan of
Georgie's can be. Then she writes to her again, and describes Mrs.
Redmond as well as is possible.

"Accept her offer by return of post," she advises, earnestly. "Even
if, after a trial, you do not like her, still this will be an opening
for you; and I am glad in the thought that I shall always have you
near me,--at least until that mysterious plan of yours meets the
light. Mrs. Redmond is not, of course, everything of the most
desirable, but she is passable, and very kind at heart. She is tall
and angular, and talks all day long--and all night, I am sur