Gladys waved him to a vacant seat at her right and summoned
the maid who had been serving breakfast. After Rand had indicated his
preference of fruit and found out what else there was to eat, he inquired
where the others were.
"Oh, Fred's still dressing; he'll be down in a minute," Nelda told him.
"And Geraldine won't; she never eats with her breakfast."
Varcek winced slightly at this, and shifted the subject by inquiring if
Rand were a professional antiques-expert.
"No, I'm a lily-pure amateur," Rand told him. "Or was until I took this
job. I have a collection of my own, and I'm supposed to be something of
an authority. My business is operating a private detective agency."
"But you are here only as an arms-expert?" Varcek inquired. "You are not
making any sort of detective investigation?"
"That's right," Rand assured him. "This is practically a paid vacation,
for me. First time I ever handled anything like this; it's a real
pleasure to be working at something I really enjoy, for a change."
Varcek nodded. "Yes, I can understand that. My own work, for instance. I
would continue with my research even if I were independently wealthy and
any sort of work were unnecessary."
"Tell Colonel Rand what you're working on now," Nelda urged.
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