During the discussions on the subject, the abbe would jokingly wave his whip at the chevalier, whose sleek figure jogged behind. "There is a case in point," he laughed. "Phebus's will is completely subservient to mine, and he knows it. Tell them, chevalier, is there anything I could not make you do?" Then the broad visage of Phebus would beam with respectful pride as he surveyed his clever brother. "No, abbe," he would quietly rejoin. "You are wiser and better than I, and I am content that you should think for both." Then in his turn would Clovis laugh as he glanced at the attentive Gabrielle. "We must be careful, lest," he observed, slyly, "we forfeit our independence. While pretending to disbelieve, he is deceiving us, for he is himself gifted with magnetic powers of a high order. I vow I am half influenced already, and must take precautions lest I become a slave." Those were pleasant rides under the yellowing foliage in the late autumn of '89. Clovis was galvanised into a semblance of activity, and appeared under the process to have half realized how charming was his wife. Instead of provokingly staring without seeing her, he observed how fresh was her complexion, how silken and golden and heavy were the loose plaits of her unpowdered hair. To her astonishment, following the abbe's lead, he became almost attentive, guiding her horse over difficult ground, even marking the fact when she was tired. And so it came about, as by touch of fairy wand, that Gabrielle, alone in the desert, had found a following. The husband whom she adored was displaying a ghostly kindness, with which for the present she was content. If he only would appreciate the prodigies--but that, under beneficent influence, would follow, doubtless. The newly-arrived swains vied with each other in endeavouring to forestall her wishes. The abbe ordered everyone about for the general good and her particular behoof, like some hovering farseeing deity; while the less pretentious chevalier plodded at her heel like a wheezy spaniel, as active as his redundancy permitted.