diff --git a/lest_cpp03.hpp b/lest_cpp03.hpp
index 0d6c744..9408cf0 100644
--- a/lest_cpp03.hpp
+++ b/lest_cpp03.hpp
@@ -765,7 +765,7 @@ parse( texts args )
 
     for ( texts::iterator pos = args.begin(); pos != args.end() ; ++pos )
     {
-        text arg = *pos;
+        text & arg = *pos;
 
         if ( in_options )
         {