Silently he got to work on Bond from his feet to his neck, melting the tensions in his body and calming his still twanging nerves. Even the long purpling bruises5 down Bond's left shoulder and side ceased to throb6, and when the Swede had gone Bond fell into a dreamless sleep.
He awoke in the evening completely refreshed.
After a cold shower, Bond walked over to the Casino. Since the night before he had lost the mood of the tables. He needed to re-establish that focus which is half mathematical and half intuitive and which, with a slow pulse and a sanguine7 temperament8, Bond knew to be the essential equipment of any gambler who was set on winning.
Bond had always been a gambler. He loved the dry riffle of the cards and the constant unemphatic drama of the quiet figures round the green tables. He liked the solid, studied comfort of card-rooms and casinos, the well-padded arms of the chairs, the glass of champagne9 or whisky at the elbow, the quiet unhurried attention of good servants. He was amused by the impartiality10 of the roulette ball and of the playing-cards - and their eternal bias11. He liked being an actor and a spectator and from his chair to take part in other men's dramas and decisions, until it came to his own turn to say that vital 'yes' or 'no', generally on a fifty-fifty chance.
Above all, he liked it that everything was one's own fault. There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug12 or taken advantage of up to the hilt. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not confused with a faulty appreciation13 of the odds14, for, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck. And luck in all its moods had to be loved and not feared Bond saw luck as a woman, to be softly wooed or brutally15 ravaged16, never pandered17 to or pursued. But he was honest enough to admit that he had never yet been made to suffer by cards or by women. One day, and he accepted the fact he would be brought to his knees by love or by luck. When that happened he knew that he too would be branded with the deadly question-mark he recognized so often in others, the promise to pay before you have lost: the acceptance of fallibility.
But on this June evening when Bond walked through the 'kitchen' into the salle privée, it was with a sensation of confidence and cheerful anticipation18 that he changed a million francs into plaques19 of fifty mille and took a seat next to the chef de partie at Roulette Table Number 1.
Bond borrowed the chef's card and studied the run of the ball since the session had started at three o'clock that afternoon. He always did this although he knew that each turn of the wheel, each fall of the ball into a numbered slot has absolutely no connexion with its predecessor21. He accepted that the game begins afresh each time the croupier picks up the ivory ball with his right hand, gives one of the four spokes23 of the wheel a controlled twist clockwise with the same hand, and with a third motion, also with the right hand, flicks24 the ball round the outer rim25 of the wheel anti-clockwise, against the spin.
It was obvious that all this ritual and all the mechanical minutiae26 of the wheel, of the numbered slots and the cylinder27, had been devised and perfected over the years so that neither the skill of the croupier nor any bias in the wheel could affect the fall of the ball. And yet it is a convention among roulette players, and Bond rigidly28 adhered to it, to take careful note of the past history of each session and to be guided by any peculiarities29 in the run of the wheel. To note, for instance, and consider significant, sequences of more than two on a single number or of more than four at the other chances down to evens.
Bond didn't defend the practice. He simply maintained that the more effort and ingenuity30 you put into gambling, the more you took out.
On the record of that particular table, after about three hours' play, Bond could see little of interest except that the last dozen had been out of favour. It was his practice to play always with the wheel, and only to turn against its previous pattern and start on a new tack31 after a zero had turned up. So he decided32 to play one of his favourite gambits and back two - in this case the first two - dozens, each with the maximum - one hundred thousand francs. He thus had two-thirds of the board covered (less the zero) and, since the dozens pay odds of two to one, he stood to win a hundred thousand francs every time any number lower than twenty-five turned up.
After seven coups33 he had won six times. He lost on the seventh when thirty came up. His net profit was four hundred thousand francs. He kept off the table for the eighth throw. Zero turned up. This piece of luck cheered him further and, accepting the thirty as a finger-post to the last dozen, he decided to back the first and last dozens until he had lost twice. Ten throws later the middle dozen came up twice, costing him four hundred thousand francs but he rose from the table one million francs to the good.
Directly Bond had started playing in maximums, his game had become the centre of interest at the table. As he seemed to be in luck, one or two pilot fish started to swim with the shark. Sitting directly opposite, one of these, whom Bond took to be an American, had shown more than the usual friendliness34 and pleasure at his share of the winning streak35. He had smiled once or twice across the table, and there was something pointed36 in the way he duplicated Bond's movements, placing his two modest plaques of ten mille exactly opposite Bond's larger ones. When Bond rose, he too pushed back his chair and called cheerfully across the table:
'Thanks for the ride. Guess I owe you a drink. Will you join me?'
Bond had a feeling that this might be the CIA man. He knew he was right as they strolled off together towards the bar, after Bond had thrown a plaque20 of ten mille to the croupier and had given a mine to the huissier who drew back his chair.
'My name's Felix Leiter,' said the American. 'Glad to meet you.'
'Mine's Bond - James Bond.'
'Oh yes,' said his companion, 'and now let's see. What shall we have to celebrate?'
Bond insisted on ordering Leiter's Haig-and-Haig 'on the rocks' and then he looked carefully at the barman.
'A dry martini,' he said. 'One. In a deep champagne goblet37.'
'Oui, monsieur.'
'Just a moment. Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?'
'Certainly, monsieur.' The barman seemed pleased with the idea.
'Gosh, that's certainly a drink,' said Leiter.
Bond laughed. 'When I'm . . . er . . . concentrating,' he explained, 'I never have more than one drink before dinner. But I do like that one to be large and very strong and very cold and very well-made. I hate small portions of anything, particularly when they taste bad. This drink's my own invention. I'm going to patent it when I can think of a good name.'
He watched carefully as the deep glass became frosted with the pale golden drink, slightly aerated38 by the bruising39 of the shaker. He reached for it and took a long sip40.
'Excellent,' he said to the barman, 'but if you can get a vodka made with grain instead of potatoes, you will find it still better.'
'Mais n'enculons pas des mouches,' he added in an aside to the barman. The barman grinned.
'That's a vulgar way of saying "we won't split hairs",' explained Bond.
But Leiter was still interested in Bond's drink. 'You certainly think things out,' he said with amusement as they carried their glasses to a corner of the room. He lowered his voice.
'You'd better call it the 'Molotov Cocktail41' after the one you tasted this afternoon.'
They sat down. Bond laughed.
'I see that the spot marked "X" has been roped off and they're making cars take a detour42 over the pavement. I hope it hasn't frightened away any of the big money.'
'People are accepting the Communist story or else they think it was a burst gas-main. All the burnt trees are coming down tonight and if they work things here like they do at Monte Carlo, there won't be a trace of the mess left in the morning.'
Leiter shook a Chesterfield out of his pack. 'I'm glad to be working with you on this job,' he said, looking into his drink, 'so I'm particularly glad you didn't get blown to glory. Our people are definitely interested. They think it's just as important as your friends do and they don't think there's anything crazy about it at all. In fact, Washington's pretty sick we're not running the show, but you know what the big brass43 is like. I expect your fellows are much the same in London.'
Bond nodded. 'Apt to be a bit jealous of their scoops,' he admitted.
'Anyway, I'm under your orders and I'm to give you any help you ask for. With Mathis and his boys here, there may not be much that isn't taken care of already. But, anyway, here I am.'
'I'm delighted you are,' said Bond. 'The opposition44 has got me, and probably you and Mathis too, all weighed up and it seems no holds are going to be barred. I'm glad Le Chiffre seems as desperate as we thought he was. I'm afraid I haven't got anything very specific for you to do, but I'd be grateful if you'd stick around the Casino this evening. I've got an assistant, a Miss Lynd, and I'd like to hand her over to you when I start playing. You won't be ashamed of her. She's a good looking girl.' He smiled at Leiter. 'And you might mark his two gunmen. I can't imagine he'll try a rough house, but you never know.'
'I may be able to help,' said Leiter. 'I was a regular in our Marine45 Corps46 before I joined this racket, if that means anything to you.' He looked at Bond with a hint of self-deprecation.
'It does,' said Bond.
It turned out that Leiter was from Texas. While he talked on about his job with the Joint47 Intelligence Staff of NATO and the difficulty of maintaining security in an organization where so many nationalities were represented, Bond reflected that good Americans were fine people and that most of them seemed to come from Texas.
Felix Leiter was about thirty-five. He was tall with a thin bony frame and his lightweight, tan-coloured suit hung loosely from his shoulders like the clothes of Frank Sinatra. His movements and speech were slow, but one had the feeling that there was plenty of speed and strength in him and that he would be a tough and cruel fighter. As he sat hunched48 over the table, he seemed to have some of the jack-knife quality of a falcon49. There was this impression also in his face, in the sharpness of his chin and cheekbones and the wide wry50 mouth. His grey eyes had a feline51 slant52 which was increased by his habit of screwing them up against the smoke of the Chesterfields which he tapped out of the pack in a chain. The permanent wrinkles which this habit had etched at the corners gave the impression that he smiled more with his eyes than with his mouth. A mop of straw-coloured hair lent his face a boyish look which closer examination contradicted. Although he seemed to talk quite openly about his duties in Paris, Bond soon noticed that he never spoke22 of his American colleagues in Europe or in Washington and he guessed that Leiter held the interests of his own organization far above the mutual53 concerns of the North Atlantic Allies. Bond sympathized with him.
By the time Leiter had swallowed another whisky and Bond had told him about the Muntzes and his short reconnaissance trip down the coast that morning, it was seven-thirty, and they decided to stroll over to their hotel together. Before leaving the Casino, Bond deposited his total capital of twenty-four million at the caisse, keeping only a few notes of ten mille as pocket money.
As they walked across to the Splendide, they saw that a team of workmen was already busy at the scene of the explosion. Several trees were uprooted54 and hoses from three municipal tank cars were washing down the boulevard and pavements. The bomb-crater had disappeared and only a few passers-by had paused to gape55. Bond assumed that similar face-lifting had already been carried out at the Hermitage and to the shops and frontages which had lost their windows.
In the warm blue dusk Royale-les-Eaux was once again orderly and peaceful.
'Who's the concierge56 working for?' asked Leiter as they approached the hotel. Bond was not sure, and said so.
Mathis had been unable to enlighten him. 'Unless you have bought him yourself,' he had said, 'you must assume that he has been bought by the other side. All concierges57 are venal58. It is not their fault. They are trained to regard all hotel guests except maharajahs as potential cheats and thieves. They have as much concern for your comfort or well-being59 as crocodiles.'
Bond remembered Mathis's pronouncement when the concierge hurried up to inquire whether he had recovered from his most unfortunate experience of the afternoon. Bond thought 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 misinterpretation of his adversary's strength. The concierge proffered60 glycerine hopes for Bond's recovery.
Leiter's room was on one of the upper floors and they parted company at the lift after arranging to see each other at the Casino at around half past ten or eleven, the usual hour for the high tables to begin play.
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1
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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luncheon
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| n.午宴，午餐，便宴 | |
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bruises
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| n.瘀伤，伤痕，擦伤( bruise的名词复数 ) | |
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throb
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| v.震颤，颤动；(急速强烈地)跳动，搏动 | |
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sanguine
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| adj.充满希望的，乐观的，血红色的 | |
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temperament
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| n.气质，性格，性情 | |
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champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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impartiality
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| n. 公平, 无私, 不偏 | |
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bias
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| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
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shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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14
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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15
brutally
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| adv.残忍地，野蛮地，冷酷无情地 | |
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ravaged
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| 毁坏( ravage的过去式和过去分词 )； 蹂躏； 劫掠； 抢劫 | |
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17
pandered
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| v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的过去式和过去分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物 | |
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18
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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19
plaques
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| （纪念性的）匾牌( plaque的名词复数 )； 纪念匾； 牙斑； 空斑 | |
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plaque
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| n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板 | |
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21
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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23
spokes
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| n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 | |
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24
flicks
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的第三人称单数 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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minutiae
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| n.微小的细节，细枝末节；（常复数）细节，小事( minutia的名词复数 ) | |
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cylinder
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| n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸 | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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peculiarities
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| n. 特质, 特性, 怪癖, 古怪 | |
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ingenuity
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| n.别出心裁；善于发明创造 | |
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31
tack
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| n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝 | |
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32
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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33
coups
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| n.意外而成功的行动( coup的名词复数 )；政变；努力办到难办的事 | |
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34
friendliness
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| n.友谊，亲切，亲密 | |
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35
streak
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| n.条理，斑纹，倾向，少许，痕迹；v.加条纹，变成条纹，奔驰，快速移动 | |
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36
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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goblet
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| n.高脚酒杯 | |
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38
aerated
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| v.使暴露于空气中，使充满气体( aerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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39
bruising
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| adj.殊死的；十分激烈的v.擦伤(bruise的现在分词形式) | |
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40
sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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41
cocktail
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| n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物 | |
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42
detour
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| n.绕行的路，迂回路；v.迂回，绕道 | |
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43
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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44
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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45
marine
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| adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵 | |
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46
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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47
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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48
hunched
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| （常指因寒冷、生病或愁苦）耸肩弓身的，伏首前倾的 | |
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49
falcon
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| n.隼，猎鹰 | |
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50
wry
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| adj.讽刺的；扭曲的 | |
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51
feline
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| adj.猫科的 | |
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52
slant
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| v.倾斜，倾向性地编写或报道；n.斜面，倾向 | |
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53
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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54
uprooted
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| v.把（某物）连根拔起( uproot的过去式和过去分词 )；根除；赶走；把…赶出家园 | |
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55
gape
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| v.张口，打呵欠，目瞪口呆地凝视 | |
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56
concierge
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| n.管理员；门房 | |
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57
concierges
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| n.看门人，门房( concierge的名词复数 ) | |
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58
venal
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| adj.唯利是图的，贪脏枉法的 | |
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59
well-being
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| n.安康，安乐，幸福 | |
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proffered
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| v.提供，贡献，提出( proffer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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