How much _is_ Fred getting
out of Rivers, anyhow?"
"My God, Geraldine, shut up!" Nelda howled. Then she decided to take
direct notice of Rand's presence. "Colonel Rand, I'm sorry to say that,
in her present condition, my sister doesn't know what she's saying. It's
bad enough for my stepmother to bring an outsider into what's obviously
a family matter, but when my sister begins making these ridiculous
accusations ..."
"What's ridiculous about them?" Geraldine demanded, dumping another two
ounces of whiskey into her glass and freshening it with the siphon. "I
think Rivers's offering ten thousand dollars for the collection, and
Fred's thinking we'd accept it, are the only ridiculous things about it."
"That's rather what I told Rivers, this afternoon," Rand put in. "He
seemed a bit upset about my being brought into this, too, but he finally
admitted that he was willing to pay up to twenty-five thousand dollars
for the collection, and if he buys it, that's exactly what it's going to
cost him."
"_What?_" Nelda fairly screamed. Her hands opened and closed
spasmodically: she was using a dark-red nail-tint that made Rand think
of blood-dripping talons.
"Mr. Arnold Rivers told me, this afternoon, and I quote: I'm willing to
pay up to twenty-five thousand dollars for that collection, unquote,"
Rand said.
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