Tears of forlornness and self-pity welled out of his eyes.
I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad.
Vesper smiled at him. ‘I like it,’ she said. ‘I like doing everything fully, getting the most out of everything one does. I think that’s the way to live. But it sounds rather schoolgirlish when one says it,’ she added apologetically.
He suddenly dropped his bantering tone and looked at Bond sharply and venomously.
She seemed to Bond to give a quick involuntary shrug of the shoulders as she spoke, but then she leant impulsively towards him. ‘I have some news for you from Mathis. He was longing to tell you himself. It’s about the bomb. It’s a fantastic story.
If one could be right every hand, none of us would be here,’ he said philosophically.
THERE ARE moments of great luxury in the life of a secret agent. There are assignments on which he is required to act the part of a very rich man; occasions when he takes refuge in good living to efface the memory of danger and the shadow of death; and times when, as was now the case, he is a guest in the territory of an allied Secret Service.
I expect because I think I can handle life better on my own. Most marriages don’t add two people together. They subtract one from the other.
His face showed neither pleasure nor excitement.
The thin man had hit him a hard professional cutting blow with the edge of the hand. There was something rather deadly about his accuracy and lack of effort. He was now again lying back, his eyes closed. He was a man to make you afraid, an evil man. Bond hoped he might get a chance of killing him.
Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles.’ He laughed. ‘But don’t let me down and become human yourself. We would lose such a wonderful machine.’ With a wave of the hand he shut the door. ‘Hey,’ shouted Bond. But the footsteps went quickly off down the passage.
He cursed himself and cursed the hubris which had made him so sure the battle was won and the enemy in flight.
By now it was dawn – about five o’clock, Bond guessed – and he reflected that a mile or two on was the turning to Le Chiffre’s villa. He had not thought that they would take Vesper there. Now that he realized that Vesper had only been a sprat to catch a mackerel the whole picture became clear.
Bond found this irksome. He disliked being cosseted. It gave him claustrophobia.
For the first time since his capture, fear came to Bond and crawled up his spine.
The man who was only a silhouette. She.
She looked at him and saw that his nostrils were slightly flared. In other respects he seemed completely at ease, acknowledging cheerfully the greetings of the Casino functionaries.
Suspiciously Bond walked over and examined the screws which secured the panel to.
They paddled easily, in unison, the paddles turning in their hands so that they did not leave the water on the forward stroke. The small waves slapped softly against the bows. Otherwise they made no noise. It was dark. Nobody saw them go. They just left the land and went off across the sea.
Miss Moneypenny would have been desirable but for eyes which were cool and direct and quizzical.