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The afternoon quickly became evening. Another dozen or
so people had entered the Grey Mare Inn in their ones and twos. All of them had
been introduced to Bond. All of them had wanted to buy him a drink and
wouldn’t take no for an answer. Bond began to warm to these people of
Stockport. They were friendly, uncomplicated people. Simple people, in the
straightforward sense of the word. All of them. The landlord, Arthur, David,
all the other people who’d come into the pub; Fred, Joe and Ted who had
befriended him at the bowling green and had willingly offered their advice when
he’d asked for it; Mrs Snockers, who had fed him Royally on toad-in-the-hole, and her lovely daughter Gloria, who although denying him sex had
generously and of her own free will given him a captivating glimpse of the most wonderful
breasts he had ever seen. Who did this Dr Goldnojaws think he was, wanting to
dominate their town? Bond would show him! Double-0-Seven would show Goldnojaws
whether he would dominate the lovely people of Stockport! But not just yet, he
had another pint coming.
And so the evening went
on. Despite switching to halves Bond had drunk twelve pints of bitter by the
time Jack and David carried him out of the Grey Mare feet first and bundled him
into a taxi with instructions to the driver to deliver him safely to the Acton
Lodge Hotel. He slept all the way.
