How can I edit Unicode text in Notepad++?

Sometimes I edit English text that includes Unicode characters. For some reason, on my PC, Notepad++ converts Unicode characters to ???'s thereby corrupting the text and losing all that data. I'm looking for a way to edit such text, while preserving Unicode characters. I'm using Consolas as my Font. If the font doesn't have all those characters, why should I lose the data when I copy the text out of Notepad++ (via Windows' clipboard)?