"Half-brother-in-law," interrupted the latter, admiring his oval nails.
"It is all the same--equally wrong."
"Oh, dear no! Excuse me, but it takes two halves to make a whole!" This light method of dealing with so grave a subject savoured of flippant levity; added to which distressful fact, the abbé, taking advantage of Gabrielle's troubled silence, had sidled closer, and was peering up through half-closed lids with an admiring scrutiny which made her vaguely uncomfortable.
"The heart is independent of the will," he whispered, absently, "and we should not be blamed for its vagaries! You could not like the fellow? Of course, you could not: he is fat and foolish; and I a dolt to ask so vain a question. Before we are aware of it our hearts are given, and the gift may not be cancelled. A platitude, is it not? Does not that same platitude show that Love is Fate--that where he wills he lights, always a conqueror? Who shall punish us for bending before the tyrant?"
"What can you mean?" inquired the marquise, startled.
"Say," inquired the abbé. "Despite trivial drawbacks, we are all happy here together, are we not? As to Phebus, what is your decree? Because a man loved you, you would not chase him hence? That were unduly harsh."
No. The marquise had no intention of endeavouring to banish Phebus. Was he not of the same blood as Clovis and Pharamond, husband and friend? To the latter she owed much, and, being grateful, would strain many a point to avoid offending him. It was thanks to his intervention that the wheels had run of late more smoothly. Indeed, she might have come in time to accept the situation as it was, ceasing to wish for something better, but for the chevalier's inconvenient flame. Even as it was, there was no reason why the stream, disturbed for a moment, should not flow as smoothly as before, since Phebus, convinced of his mistake, ceased to be importunate. Enwrapt in a veil of reserve he studiously avoided a tête-à-tête with her whom he had honoured with elephantine love-making.
Impelled by these various considerations, Gabrielle replied, quietly, "No. I would not chase a man away because he loved me," and a look of exultation flashed over the abbé's features, which as quickly faded.
Lorge in winter could scarcely be called a cheerful spot; yet, accustomed by gradual degrees to the still life of unbroken monotony, none of the party suggested a return to Paris. The chevalier wandered aimlessly, a solitary figure, the phantom of regret--and his energies seemed bent on equal avoidance of Gabrielle and Angelique. Clovis became more and more engrossed in his pursuits, and though he frequently discussed the proposed assistant, took no steps--lymphatic unpractical creature--to unearth an adept learned in mystic lore. It became his habit to join the family circle once a day, and on these occasions he grew almost genial under the skilled banter of his brother. Pharamond, a miracle of resource and ready usefulness, ferreted out curtains of thick silk from mouldering trunks, and made of the boudoir at the end of the suite quite a tempting and delightful nest. With heaps of cushions he arranged a species of divan about the fire, and stretched out at full length on it declaimed by the hour with nice emphasis the sparkling lines of Beaumarchais. Gabrielle did not quite take in the sense of all he read, but the voice was singularly sweet and soothing--so different from the groaning 'cello--and she grew accustomed as time went on to the singular expression in the eyes.
Those were peaceful, placid days. When the snow swirled without in blustering eddies, the curtains were drawn close, and logs were piled upon the fire till they hissed and sparkled, and Gabrielle, as she listened to the rhythm of the verse, broken pleasantly from time to time by the distant mirth of the children as they romped now and then with the attentive chevalier, was fain to confess herself content. How smoothly the water runs as it approaches the edge of the precipice, and with what angry foam crests it hurries away after the fall. If the chatelaine had been asked at this juncture whether she pined for aught, she would have said No. Clovis, the shadowy one, was nearer to her than he had ever been, condescending sometimes to discuss affairs with her and even play with the darling prodigies. We can't fashion our spouses to our liking. Those who are undemonstrative must not be expected to coruscate. Clovis was not wilfully unkind. The chevalier had forgotten his folly. What a mercy that was! The abbé, with all his lightly scintillating oddities, was a pearl of price. All things considered, existence was not unpleasant.