The last thing Bond remembered before the telephone rang was Tiffany bending over him in bed and kissing him and saying, “You shouldn’t sleep on the heart-side, my treasure. It’s bad for the heart. It might stop beating. Turn over.” And obediently he had turned and as the door clicked he was at once asleep again with her voice and the sigh of the Atlantic and the soft roll of the ship holding him in their arms.
And then the angry bell rang in the dark cabin and went on ringing and Bond cursed and reached for it and a voice said, “Sorry to disturb you, Sir. This is the wireless operator. There’s a cipher signal just come in for you and it’s got an en clair prefix of ‘Most Immediate.’ Shall I call it out to you or send it down?”
en clair“Send it down, would you?” said Bond. “And thanks.”
