"If it isn't very far from here, and the mistress is willing, I'll go with you myself. I know the neighborhood."
"Agreed!" cried the lieutenant.
"But on one condition," continued Bertha,--"that some one shall bring me back here. I am afraid to be out in the roads alone."
"God forbid I should yield that privilege to any one, my dear, even if it costs me my epaulets!" said the officer. "Do you know the way to Banl[oe]uvre?"
At the name of the farmhouse belonging to Michel, where she had lived herself for some days with the marquis and Petit-Pierre, Bertha felt a shudder run through her body, a cold sweat came upon her forehead, her heart beat violently, but she managed to master her emotion.
"Banl[oe]uvre?" she repeated. "No, that's not in our parts. Is it a village or a château, Banl[oe]uvre?"
"It is a farmhouse."
"A farmhouse! Whom does it belong to?"
"To a gentleman of your neighborhood."
"Are you billeted at Banl[oe]uvre?"