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Bond looked inquiringly at Vesper

'I should love that,' she said, 'but will you give me one of your lucky numbers to play on?'

'I have no lucky nuly 'I only bet on even chances, or as near theet Well, I shall leave you then' He excused himself 'You will be in excellent hands with ave a short sait towards the caisse

Leiter sensed the rebuff

'He's a very serious gauess he has to be Now come with me and watch Number 17 obey my extra-sensory perceptions You'll find it quite a painless sensation being given plenty of '

Bond was relieved to be on his own again and to be able to clear hisbut the task on hand He stood at the caisse and took his twenty-four iven him that afternoon He divided the notes into equal packets and put half the suht-hand coat pocket and the other half into the left Then he strolled slowly across the rooed tables until he came to the top of the room where the broad baccarat table waited behind the brass rail

The table was filling up and the cards were spread face down being stirred and mixed slowly in what is known as the 'croupiers' shuffle', supposedly the shuffle which is

The chef de partie lifted the velvet-covered chain which allowed entrance through the brass rail

'I've kept Number 6 as you wished, Monsieur Bond'

There were still three other empty places at the table Bondout his chair He sat doith a nod to the players on his right and left He took out his wide gunhter and placed theht elbow The huissier wiped a thick glass ash-tray with a cloth and put it beside thearette and leant back in his chair

Opposite hilanced round the table He knew ht, but few of their naht, there was a Monsieur Sixte, a wealthy Belgian with o At Nuuished but weak-looking man whose francs were presued woman with the predatory mouth of a barracuda, who sat at Number 3 Bond reflected that they would probably play a pawky and nervous gast the early casualties At Nuambler ned, as in Bond's experience apparently everyone does in the Eastern Mediterranean, a profitable shipping line He would play coldly and well and would be a stayer

Bond asked the huissier for a card and wrote on it, under a neat questionnuive it to the chef de partie

Soon it came back with the names filled in

Number 2, still empty, was to be Carmel Delane, the American film star with alimony from three husbands to burn and, Bond assumed, a call on still ht be With her sanguine teht run into a vein of luck

Then came Lady Danvers at Number 3 and Nuht or ht not have souessed they would be stayers They both had a business-like look about theether easily and cheerfully as if they felt very ame Bond was quite happy to have them next to him - Mrs Du Pont sat at Number 5 - and he felt prepared to share with theht, if they found the a bank

At Number 8 was the Maharajah of a s balances to play with Bond's experience told hia inclined to lose heart if the going was bad But the Maharajah would probably stay in the garadual

Nunor Tomelli, who possibly had plenty of money fro and foolish gaht lose his temper and make a scene

Bond had just finished his sketchy su-up of the players when Le Chiffre, with the silence and econo in the brass rail and, with a cold smile of welcome for the table, took his place directly opposite Bond in the banker's chair

With the same economy of movements the thick slab of cards which the croupier had placed on the table squarely between his blunt relaxed hands Then, as the croupier fitted the six packs with one swift exact motion into thequietly to him

'Messieurs, mesdames, les jeux sont faits Un banco de cinq cent mille,' and as the Greek at Number 1 tapped the table in front of his fat pile of hundred-mille plaques, 'Le banco est fait'

Le Chiffre crouched over the shoe He gave it a short deliberate slap to settle the cards, the first of which showed its se aluer he pressed gently on the pink tongue and slipped out the first card six inches or a foot towards the Greek on his right hand Then he slipped out a card for himself, then another for the Greek, then onehis own cards

He looked at the Greek's face

With his flat wooden spatula, like a long bricklayer's trowel, the croupier delicately lifted up the Greek's two cards and dropped theht so that they lay just before the Greek's pale hairy hands which lay inert like tatchful pink crabs on the table

The two pink crabs scuttled out together and the Greek gathered the cards into his wide left hand and cautiously bent his head so that he could see, in the shadow made by his cupped hand, the value of the bottoer of his right hand and slipped the bottohtly sideways so that the value of the top card was also just perceptible

His face was quite impassive He flattened out his left hand on the table and then withdrew it, leaving the two pink cards face down before him, their secret unrevealed

Then he lifted his head and looked Le Chiffre in the eye