"Well, the banks speak well of them," Rand replied. "Some of them have
good listings in Dun & Bradstreet's, too."

"Well, so do I," Rivers reported. "I can top any offer that crowd makes.
What do you expect to get out of them, anyhow?"

"I haven't talked price with them, yet. A lot more than ten thousand
dollars, anyhow."

Rivers forced a laugh. "Now, Mr. Rand! That was just an opening offer. I
thought Fred Dunmore was handling the collection." He grimaced. "What do
you think it's really worth?"

Rand shrugged. "It probably has a dealer's piece-by-piece list-value
of around seventy thousand. I'm not nuts enough to expect anything like
that in a lump sum, but please, let's not mention ten thousand dollars in
this connection any more. That's on the order of Lawyer Marks bidding
seventy-five cents for Uncle Tom; it's only good for laughs."

"Well, how much more than that do you think Gresham and his crowd will
offer?"

"I haven't talked price with them, yet," Rand repeated. "I mean to, as
soon as I can."

"Well, you get their offer, and I'll top it," Rivers declared. "I'm
willing to go as high as twenty-five thousand for that collection; they
won't go that high."

Although he just managed not to show it, Rand was really surprised. Even