_Ma foi_, how these things make one forget to be a woman!" And with
that she hung down her head, and despite all I could say would not utter
another word.

Such was the vivandiere of the Fourth: blending in her character the
woman's weakness and the soldier's ardor; the delicacy of feeling, which
not even the life of camps and bivouacs could eradicate, with the wild
enthusiasm for glory,--the passion of her nation. It needed not her dark
eyes, shaded with their long black fringe; her oval face, whose freckles
but displayed the transparent skin beneath; her graceful figure and her
elastic step,--to make her an object of attraction in the regiment.
Nor could I be surprised to learn, as I did, how many a high offer
of marriage had been made to her by those soldiers of fortune whose
gallantry and daring had won them honors in the service.

To value at their real price such attractions, one should meet them far
away, and remote from the ordinary habits of the world: in the wild,
reckless career of the camp; on the long march; beside the weary
watchfire; ay, on the very field of battle,--amid the din, the clamor,
and the smoke,--the cheers, the cries of carnage. Then, indeed, such an
apparition had something magical in it. To see that tender girl tripping
along fearlessly from rank to rank as though she had a charmed life, now
saluting with her hand some brave soldier as he rode by to the charge,
now stooping beside the wounded, and holding to his bloodless lips the
longed-for cup; to watch her as she rode gracefully at the head of the
regiment, or lay beside the fire of the bivouac, relating with a woman's
grace some story of the campaign, while the gray-bearded veteran and the
raw youth hung on each word, and wondered how the scenes in which they
mingled and acted could bear such interest when told by rosy lips,--who
would wonder if she had many lovers? Who would not rather be surprised
at those who remained coldly indifferent to such charms as hers?

Let my confession, then, excite neither astonishment nor suspicion, when
I acknowledge, that in such companionship the days slipped rapidly over.
I never wearied of hearing her tell of the scenes she had witnessed, nor
did she of recounting them; and although a sense of reproach used now
and then to cross me for the life of inactivity and indolence I was
leading. Mademoiselle Minette promised me many a brave opportunity of
distinction to come, and campaigns of as great glory