ast five years to get everything sold. He wouldn't dump
the whole collection on the market at once, upset prices, and spoil his
future business. You know, two thousand five hundred pistols of the sort
Mr. Fleming had, coming on the market in a lot, could do just that. The
old-arms market isn't so large that it couldn't be easily saturated."

"That's what I'd been thinking.... And then, there are some private
collectors, mostly friends of Lane's--Mr. Fleming's--who are talking
about forming a pool to buy the collection for distribution among
themselves," she continued.

"That's more like it," Rand approved. "If they can raise enough money
among them, that is. They won't want the stuff for resale, and they may
pay something resembling a decent price. Who are they?"

"Well, Stephen Gresham appears to be the leading spirit," she said. "The
corporation lawyer, you know. Then, there is a Mr. Trehearne, and a Mr.
MacBride, and Philip Cabot, and one or two others."

"I know Gresham and Cabot," Rand said. "They're both friends of mine, and
I have an account with Cabot, Joyner & Teale, Cabot's brokerage firm.
I've corresponded with MacBride; he specializes in Colts.... You're the
sole owner, I take it?"

"Well, no." She paused, picking her words carefully. "We may just run
into a little trouble, there. You see, the collection is part of the
residue of the estate, left equally to myself and my two stepdaughters,
Nelda Dunmore and Geraldine Varcek. You understand, Mr. Fleming and I
were married in 1941; his first wife died fifteen years before."

"Well, your stepdaughters, now; would they also be my clients?"

"Good Lord, no!" That amused her considerably more than it did Rand.
"Of course," she continued, "they're just as interested in selling the
collection for the best possible price, but beyond that, there may be a
slight divergence of opinion. For instance, Nelda's husband, Fred
Dunmore, has been insisting that we let him handle the sale of the
pistols, on the grounds that he is something he calls a businessman.
Nelda supports him in this. It was Fred who got this ten-thousand-dollar
offer from Rivers. Personally, I think Rivers is playing him for a
sucker. Outside his own line, Fred is an awful innocent, and I've never
trusted this man Rivers. Lane had some trouble with him, just before ..."

"Arnold Rivers," Rand said, when it was evident that she was not going
to continue, "has the reputation, among collectors, of bei