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Bond ree hurried up to inquire whether he had recovered froht it well to say that he still felt a little shaky He hoped that if the intelligence were relayed, Le Chiffre would at any rate start playing that evening with a basic e proffered glycerine hopes for Bond's recovery

Leiter's room was on one of the upper floors and they parted co to see each other at the Casino at around half past ten or eleven, the usual hour for the high tables to begin play

CHAPTER 8 - PINK LIGHTS AND CHAMPAGNE

Bond walked up to his roon of trespass, threw off his clothes, took a long hot bath followed by an ice-cold shower and lay down on his bed There rehts before he irl in the Splendide bar, an hour to exaaame, in all the various circumstances of victory or defeat He had to plan the attendant roles of Mathis, Leiter, and the girl and visualize the reactions of the enehts pursued his ih a series of carefully constructed scenes as if he atching the tulass in a kaleidoscope

At twenty minutes to nine he had exhausted all the perht result fro the future completely from his mind

As he tied his thin, double-ended, black satin tie, he paused for a rey-blue eyes looked calmly back with a hint of ironical inquiry and the short lock of black hair which would never stay in place slowly subsided to forht eyebrow With the thin vertical scar down his right cheek the general effect was faintly piratical Not ht Bond, as he filled a flat, light gunarettes with the triple gold band Mathis had told hiirl's comment

He slipped the case into his hip pocket and snapped his oxidized Ronson to see if it needed fuel After pocketing the thin sheaf of ten-ht chamois leather holster and slipped it over his left shoulder so that it hung about three inches below his arm-pit He then took from under his shirts in another drawer a very flat 25 Beretta autole round in the barrel and whipped the action to and fro several tier on the eain, loaded it, put up the safety catch and dropped it into the shallow pouch of the shoulder-holster He looked carefully round the roole-breasted dinner-jacket coat over his heavy silk evening shirt He felt cool and comfortable He verified in the un under his left arave a final pull at his narrow tie and walked out of the door and locked it

When he turned at the foot of the short stairs towards the bar he heard the lift-door open behind hi'

It was the girl She stood and waited for him to come up to her

He had remembered her beauty exactly He was not surprised to be thrilled by it again

Her dress was of black velvet, simple and yet with the touch of splendour that only half a dozen couturiers in the world can achieve There was a thin necklace of diamonds at her throat and a dia swell of her breasts She carried a plain black evening bag, a flat object which she now held, her arht and simple to the final inward curl below the chin

She looked quite superb and Bond's heart lifted

'You look absolutely lovely Business ood in the radio world!'

She put her arht into dinner?' she asked 'I want to rand entrance and the truth is there's a horrible secret about black velvet It marks when you sit down And, by the way, if you hear ht, I shall have sat on a cane chair'

Bond laughed 'Of course, let's go straight in We'll have a glass of vodka while we order our dinner'

She gave hilance and he corrected himself: 'Or a cocktail, of course, if you prefer it The food here's the best in Royale'

For an instant he felt nettled at the irony, the light shadow of a snub, hich she had met his decisiveness, and at the way he had risen to her quick glance

But it was only an infinitesi;tre d'h"tel led theotten as Bond in her atched the heads of the diners turn to look at her

The fashionable part of the restaurant was beside the wide crescent ofbuilt out like the broad stern of a ship over the hotel gardens, but Bond had chosen a table in one of the reat room These had survived froay in white and gilt, with the red silk-shaded table and wall lights of the late Empire

As they deciphered the maze of purple ink which covered the double folio menu, Bond beckoned to the sommelier He turned to his companion

'Have you decided?'

'I would love a glass of vodka,' she said simply, and went back to her study of the menu

'A small carafe of vodka, very cold,' ordered Bond He said to her abruptly: 'I can't drink the health of your new frock without knowing your Christian name'

'Vesper,' she said 'Vesper Lynd'

Bond gave her a look of inquiry

'It's rather a bore always having to explain, but I was born in the evening, on a very stor to my parents Apparently they wanted to remember it' She smiled 'Some people like it, others don't I'm just used to it'

'I think it's a fine name,' said Bond An idea struck him 'Can I borrow it?' He explained about the special martini he had invented and his search for a name for it 'The Vesper,' he said 'It sounds perfect and it's very appropriate to the violet hour when my cocktail will now be drunk all over the world Can I have it?'

'So long as I can try one first,' she promised 'It sounds a drink to be proud of'