Page 30 (2/2)

"No, I’lass-topped table on the back patio, where the vieas the same as the one fro each other cos, and wonderfully gentle, she’d told him, and added that she’d been out for an hour on the one with the star on his forehead And did he ride, by any chance?

He shook his head "Stamps keep me busy," he said

"They certainly kept Jeb busy," she said, "although he was always eager to spend plenty of time in the saddle" The double entendre was clearly unintentional, and she colored when she realized what she’d said Keller, who’d been about to suggest she call hi with Mr Edwards and Mrs Soderling for the ti

He said, "About the stamps"

"Yes"

"Do you have any sense of what you’d like to get for them?"

"Well, as much as I can"

"Of course"

"I know Jeb put a good deal of money into his collections His line of business was quite volatile, he had interests in oil and cattle and real estate, so we’d be rich one day and broke the next and rich again the day after When there was plenty of htened up he’d bide his time"

"Did he keep records of what he spent?"

"I don’t believe so He got a lot of his income in the form of cash, so he preferred to pay for his sta to do with taxes, I suppose"

And the nonpayht

"He said stao up in value But he also said it wasn’t like the stock et close to retail when you sold And there was one ti"

"Oh?"

"When the o ‘Maybe I’ll sell the sta a while, anyway’ But I don’t think he was serious, and nothing ever came of it You asked me if I had any idea what they’re worth I don’t, not really, but I would think it would coures, wouldn’t you?"

He took aThen he said, "I could ht now, andaccount And then I could write you a check for a quarter of aa certain risk, because there are rare staht or enuine It’s a chance I’m prepared to take But I don’t think it would be the best deal for you"

"Because it reat deal more," he said "I only collect stao all the way to the present The modern material’s out of my area of expertise And in some of his collections, Russia in particular, there’s a ton of specialized material, imperfs and errors and other varieties"

"He had no use for the Russians," she said, "but he liked their stamps"

"Well," he said "The point is I can make you that offer, but I’d advise you to turn it down If this were ayou an advance and a share in whatever I received over a certain figure But that’s not really good, either"

There was still solass, and he took a drink of it "Here’s what I’d propose," he said "I’ll act as your agent, and I’ll call the three dealers most likely to be ideal purchasers of your husband’s stamps I’ll make appointments for them each to send a representative within the next week Ideally we’ll have theet sealed bids froets the collection"

"And they’ll all be able to get someone here on the day you specify?"

"If any of them can’t," he said, "I’ll call the next name on the list"