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Bond went back to the table The croupier wasblock that would soon be slipped into the waiting shoe Since Bond was beside him, the croupier offered him the neutral, plain red card to cut the pack with Bond rubbed the card between his fingers and, with amused deliberation, slipped it as nearly half-way down the block of cards as he could estimate The croupier serde the red stop card into the tongue of the shoe and stop the game just seven cards before the end of the shoe, packed the long block of cards into the shoe, slid in the ue that held them prisoner and announced, loud and clear: 'Messieurs [the 'mesdames' are traditionally not mentioned; since Victorian days it has been assuamble], les jeux sont fails Numero six a la main' The Chef de Jeu, on his throne behind the croupier, took up the cry, the huissiers shepherded distant stragglers back to their places, and the gaain

James Bond confidently bancoed the Lille tycoon on his left, won, notte with a few small counters, and doubled the stake to two thousand New Francs - two hundred thousand of the old

He won that, and the next Now for the hurdle of the third coup and he was off to the races! He won it with a natural nine! Eight hundred thousand in the bank (as Bond reckoned it)! Again he ith difficulty this tiainst a five Then he decided to play it safe and pile up some capital Of the one e', reain he won Now he put a e' Once more a bank of a million, and noould have a fat cushion of onedifficult towary of this dark Englishman who played so quietly, wary of the half-smile of certitude on his rather cruel mouth Who was he? Where did he come from? What did he do? There was a murmur of excited speculation round the table So far a run of six Would the Englishman pocket his small fortune and pass the bank? Or would he continue to run it? Surely the cards e! But James Bond's mind was made up The cards have no memory in defeat They also have noeach tilish lady, who had so far left the running to the others, stepped in and bancoed hi that she was going to win And she did, ignos, h of relief round the table The spell had been broken! And a whisper of envy as the heavy, h, four million, six hundred thousand francs' worth, well over three thousand pounds, were shunted across to Bond with the flat of the croupier's spatula Bond tossed a plaque for a hundred New Francs to the croupier, received the traditional 'Merci, aarette and paid little attention as the shoe went shunting round the table away from him He had made a packet, dammit! A bloody packet! Now he must be careful Sit on it But not too careful, not sit on all of it! This was a glorious evening It was barely past o home yet So be it! He would run his bank when it ca of the others -absolutely none The cards had got hot His run had shown that There would be other runs now, and he could easily burn his fingers chasing theot to Number Five, to one of the Lille tycoons two places to the left of Bond, an ill-ar out of an aold holder and who tore at the cards with heavily ers and slapped theh the third coup and was off Bond, in accordance with his plan, left him severely alone and now, at the sixth coup, the bank stood at twenty thousand New Francs - twenty ain Everyone was sitting on his money

The croupier and the Chef de Jeu t mille! Faites vos jeux, t mille!'

And then there she was! She had co beside the croupier, and Bond had no tiolden face with brilliant blue eyes and shocking pink lips, soolden hair down to her shoulders, and then it came 'Banco!'

Everyone looked at her and there was a moment's silence And then 'Le banco est fait' from the croupier, and thethe cards out of the shoe, and hers were on their way over to her on the croupier's spatula

She bent down and there was a e in the white V of her neckline

'Une carte'

Bond's heart sank She certainly hadn't anything better than a five The monster turned his up Seven And now he scrabbled out a card for her and flicked it conte queen!

The croupier delicately faced her other two cards with the tip of his spatula A four! She had lost!

Bond groaned inwardly and looked across to see how she had taken it