"It was my husband's regiment."
"Yes, madame. I was for a long time supposed to be dead. My comrades saw me fall, and I was reported for dead. Faith, I came near dying. But I fell into the hands of some good people, though they were Austrians, and they took good care of me, and cured my wounds; and here I am at last."
"Ah! why," exclaimed Madame Lioncourt, "may this not have been the fate of your colonel? Why may not he too have survived the carnage, and been preserved in the same manner? His body was never recognized."
"Very possibly Lioncourt may still be living."
"Yet St. Eustache told me he was dead."
"He is a false traitor!" cried the pilgrim. "Leonide!" cried he, with thrilling emphasis, "you have borne bad news; can you bear good?"
"God will give me strength to bear good tidings," cried the lady.
"Then arm yourself with all your energy," said the stranger. "Lioncourt lives."
"Lives!" said Leonide, faintly, grasping the arm of the stranger to support herself from falling.
"Courage, madame; I tell you the truth. He lives."