String text is garbage on cv::imshow title bar and in cv::putText display

edit

The code that is generating this is:

cv::Mat img_combo(a.img->rows+2,a.img->cols+b.img->cols+2,a.img->type());
[...];
//                        Somehow this text is getting display in the picture as "???"
//                           VVVVVVVVVVV
cv::putText(img_combo, string("abcdefg"), cv::Point(30,30), CV_FONT_HERSHEY_SIMPLEX, 0.8, cvScalar(200,200,250), 1, CV_AA);
cv::namedWindow("Image2:",1); //<<-- The label that is getting dislayed as a weird "DE>>"
cv::imshow("Image2:",img_combo);
cvWaitKey();
cvDestroyWindow("Image2:");

Is there some sort of unicode local that I need to configure? Why is my ASCII text getting displayed this way?

When I look at the *.obj generated by MSVS 2010 in cygwin's less, I'm seeing Image2: in the binary.