"No; we have an expedition there."
"What is an expedition?"
"Well done!" cried the lieutenant. "Here's a pretty girl who wants information!"
"Natural enough, too. If I take you, or get some one to take you to Banl[oe]uvre, of course I want to know why you are going there."
"We are going," said the sub-lieutenant, joining in the conversation for the sake of showing his wit, "to give a white such a dose of lead that he'll turn blue."
"Ah!" cried Bertha, unable to repress the exclamation.
"Hey! what's the matter with you?" asked the lieutenant. "If we had told you the name of the man we are going to arrest, I should have said you were in love with him."
"I?" said Bertha, calling up her strength of mind to hide the terror in her heart. "I, in love with a gentleman?"
"Kings have married shepherdesses," said the sub-lieutenant, who seemed to be of a comic humor.
"Well, well!" cried the lieutenant; "here's the shepherdess fainting away like a fine lady."