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The total face value of the lot ran to 1838, and he divided the sum in half and counted out nine 100 bills and added a twenty She said she owed hi up what he’d bought and wondering if he’d co it, she asked hi else he could use She had books that she wouldn’t , and some of them were pretty old Did he have any interest in books?

Just stamps, he told her If she happened to have any old envelopes with stalad to take a look at the he could use

She snapped her fingers, which was so you didn’t see often "In that trunk," she said "You know, I’ve been et rid of that, but it’s way up in the attic and I don’t go there if I can help it But there’s a little stack of envelopes there People in the fahty’s fao all the way back to the war"

He knehich war she ht soht to do was soak them off the envelopes, but--"

"No, never do that"

"Well, I guess I’ot around to it, from the tone of your voice! But isn’t that what collectors do?"

"Not with old envelopes No, you don’t want to do anything of the sort There are people who collect the whole envelope--covers, they call them--and they like them even better with the letters intact"

"That’s what’s in the attic Envelopes with letters in them And then there’s soot through the mail without them is beyond me You probably won’t want those, will you?"

"Maybe we should see what’s up there," he said

There were forty-one envelopes, and they fit quite coars "I don’t think there are any outstanding rarities here," he told Mrs Ricks, "but I can pay you twelve hundred dollars for these"

"That much for those old letters?"

"I’ure," he told her "And if I don’t, well, I’ll just add them to my own collection"

But he didn’t collect US--or Confederate, either, for that matter--and he knew just where to send the material he’d purchased He’d met a fellow at an auction in Dallas, a dealer-collector hybrid froomery who specialized in the postal history of the Confederacy, and when he got home he was able to put his hands on the man’s business card

He picked up the phone in his staht interest you," he said "Can I send them for your offer?"

The offer came by return mail, in the for with it, allowing that one particular ite almost that much at auction "But we’ll never know," the fellow said, "because it’s found a permanent hooodies like this, you knohere to send them"

He put the check in the bank, and added another a few days later, froht and sold discounted postage; the mint stamps he’d paid 919 for had returned 1286 That was nohis ti costs, but the 15,000 froh it was, left a sour taste in hisabout it, and then he made a phone call and showed up at the Hurst Street address with a check for 3500 "Those covers were better than I realized," he told Edith Ricks "And it seems only fair that you should share in the profits"

She was astonished, and tried to get him to come in for another round of coffee and cookies, but he pleaded another appointh she needed the money," he told Julia, "but she was certainly happy to have it"

"That’s the way it is with oes You didn’t have to pay her extra"

"No"

"She’d never have knohat you got for those covers"

"No, of course not"

"Conscience money"

"Is that what it was? It just seemed, oh, I don’t know Appropriate?"

"I’ll tell you what it is, even though you didn’t mean it that way But that’s how it’ll turn out"