from it; he spoke in all seriousness. The terrible scenes he had for
months been witnessing; the men dropping from hunger at their posts; the
sentries fainting as they carried arms, and borne away to the hospital
to die; the bursts of madness that would now and then break forth from
men whose agony became unendurable, had so steeled him to horrors, that
even this poor shadow of military display seemed orderly and imposing.

'They are the 22nd, colonel,' replied the adjutant, proudly, 'a corps
that always have maintained their character, whether on parade or under
fire!'

'Ah! the 22nd, are they? They have come up from Ronco, then?'

'Yes, sir; they were all that General Soult could spare us.'

'Fine-looking fellows they are,' said De Barre, scanning them through
his glass. 'The third company is a little, a very little to the
rear--don't you perceive it?--and the flank is a thought or so restless
and unsteady.'

'A sergeant has just been carried to the rear ill, sir,' said a young
officer, in a low voice.

'The heat, I have no douht; a _colpo di sole_, as they tell us
everything is,' said De Barre. 'By the way, is not this the regiment
that boasts the pretty vivandiere? What's this her name is?'

'Lela, sir.'

'Yes, to be sure, Lela. I'm sure I've heard her toasted often enough at
cafes and restaurants.'

'There she is, sir, yonder, sitting on the steps of the fountain'; and
the officer made a sign with his sword for the girl to come over. She
made an effort to arise at the order, but tottered back, and would have
fallen if a soldier had not caught her. Then suddenly collecting
her strength, she arranged the folds of her short scarlet jupe, and
smoothing down the braids of her fair hair, came forward, at that
sliding, half-skipping pace that is the wont of her craft.

The exertion, and possibly the excitement, had flushed her cheek, so
that as she came forward her look was brilliantly handsome; but as the
colour died away, and a livid pallor spread over her jaws, lank and
drawn in by famine, her expression was dreadful. The large eyes,
lustrous and wild-looking, gleaming with the fire of fever, while her
thin nostrils quivered at each respiration.

Poor girl, even then, with famine and fever eating within her, the
traits of womanly vanity still survived, and as she carried her hand to
her cap in salute, she made a faint attempt at a smile.

'The 22nd may indeed be proud of their vivandiere,* said De Barre