'I am sure of it, Monsieur,' replied Charlie.
'Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!' exclaimed Célandine, clasping her hands, and looking upwards; 'and you will be in it?'
'Undoubtedly, Mademoiselle.'
She drew very close to Charlie, and said, in a low voice,
'Pardon me, mon ami—but—but when were you last at mass or confession?'
'We don't attend to either much in the 95th,' was Charlie's evasive reply; 'besides, our Herr Pastor is a Lutheran.'
The sweet French girl eyed him wistfully.
'You are too good and humane thus to die like a heathen!' said she, 'and many more will die to-day. Promise me, Monsieur, that you will wear this.'
And from her white neck she took a little holy cross and medal, suspended by a blue ribbon, which she passed over Charlie's head.
'For your sake, then,' said Charlie gallantly.