"I was thunderstruck.
"'You don't seem much pleased,' she said sharply.
"'I did not say that.... Though, really, I am very much pleased, I assure you.'
"'Prove it to me: let us spend the day together tomorrow.'
"'To-morrow!' I stammered. 'Impossible!'
"'Why?' she demanded suspiciously.
"'Because to-morrow, I have to pilot the Tuareg mission about Paris. The Emperor's orders.'
"'What bluff is this?' asked Clémentine.
"'I admit that nothing so much resembles a lie as the truth.'
"I retold Mocquard's story to Clémentine, as well as I could. She listened to me with an expression that said: 'you can't fool me that way.'