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There were stairs and a corridor and a door Kono stepped forward and knocked

And then Bond was standing in the middle of a suard was laying out on the floor Bond's ninja suit and the appallingly incrinificent black silk kiainst the mantelpiece beneath which a Japanese brazier sh forehead, the pursed purple wound of a rey-black moustache that drooped at the corners, on its way, perhaps, to achieving rown for the part of Monsieur le Comte de Bleuville, the black bullet-holes of the eyes And beside hi the picture of a homely couple at ease after dinner, sat Irh-class Japanese lady, the petit point of a single chrysanthey hands to take it up when the cause of this unseemly disturbance had been ascertained The puffy, square face, the tight bun of ht-brown, alht Bond dully, here they are! Within easy reach! They would both be dead by now but for his single cri the tables? If only the pain in his head would stop throbbing!

Blofeld's tall sword stood against the wall He picked it up and strode out into the room He stood over the pile of Bond's possessions and picked them over with the tip of the sword He hooked up the black suit He said in Geruard replied in the sae His voice was uneasy and his eye-slits swivelled with a certain respect towards Bond and away again 'It is a ninja suit, Herr Doktor These are people who practise the secret arts of ninjutsu Their secrets are very ancient and I know little of the invisible, of killing without weapons These people used to be much feared in Japan I was not aware that they still existed This man has undoubtedly been sent to assassinate you, ht well have succeeded'

'And who is he?' Blofeld looked keenly at Bond 'He is tall for a Japanese'

'The men from thethat he is deaf and du that he is a miner from Fukuoka I do not believe this His hands have some broken nails, but they are not the hands of a miner'

'I do not believe it either But we shall soon find out' Blofeld turned to the woood nose for such problems - the instincts of a woman'

Irma Bunt rose and caly at Bond and then walked slowly round hi her distance When she came to the left profile she said softly, with awe, 'Du lieber Gott!' She went back to Blofeld She said in a hoarse whisper, still staring, almost with horror, at Bond, 'It cannot be! But it is! The scar down the right cheek! The profile! And the eyebrows have been shaved to give that upward tilt!' She turned to Blofeld She said decisively, 'This is the English agent This is the man Bond, James Bond, the man whose wife you killed The man ent under the name of Sir Hilary Bray' She added fiercely, 'I swear it! You have got to believe me, lieber Ernst!'

Blofeld's eyes had narrowed 'I see a certain reseot here? How has he found me? Who sent him?'

'The Japanese Geheimdienst They will certainly have relations with the British Secret Service'

'I cannot believe it! If that was so, they would have come arrants to arrest me There are too reat circumspection and extract the whole truth from this man We must at once find out if he is deaf and dumb That is the first step The Question Room should settle that But first of all he et to work'

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