His face was bruised and already going red; he spoke thickly because of a bleeding lip.

He spoke thickly, with a slurring of the consonants.

Reith took pains to control his voice; still he spoke thickly.

All of this he said in a slow voice, pausing between the words and speaking ever more thickly as the blood from his wound choked him.

"I want to ask you," he said, speaking slowly and thickly, "if you will be my wife?"

Because his cut lower lip had swollen, he still spoke thickly: "How did you find me?"

He said through flushed lips, speaking thickly and heavily, "Do not stop now."

Bond raised his head and spoke thickly.

He spoke thickly, as if concentrating on forming the words.

After a moment he spoke again thickly, as if struggling with tears.