protected-delivery service, and general investigation
and protection work, requires some personal supervision, but none of
it demands my exclusive attention. Now, if you wanted some routine
investigation made, I could turn it over to my staff, maybe put two or
three men to work on it. But there's nothing about this business of yours
that I could delegate to anybody; I'd have to do it all myself, at the
expense of neglecting the rest of my business. Now, I could do what you
want done, but it would cost you three or four times what you'd gain by
retaining me."

"Well, let me decide that, Colonel," she replied. "How much would you
have to have?"

"Well, this collection of your late husband's consists of some
twenty-five hundred pistols and revolvers, all types and periods," Rand
said. "You want me to catalogue it, appraise each item, issue lists, and
negotiate with prospective buyers. The cataloguing and appraisal alone
would take from a week to ten days, and it would be a couple more weeks
until a satisfactory sale could be arranged. Why, say five thousand
dollars; a thousand as a retainer and the rest on completion."

That, he thought, would settle that. He was expecting an indignant
outcry, and hardened his heart, like Pharaoh. Instead, Gladys Fleming
nodded equably.

"That seems reasonable enough, Colonel Rand, considering that you'd have
to be staying with us at Rosemont, away from your office," she agreed.
"I'll give you a check for the thousand now, with a letter of
authorization."

Rand nodded in return. Being thoroughly conscious of the fact that
he could only know a thin film of the events on the surface of any
situation, he was not easily surprised.

"Very well," he said. "You've hired an arms-expert. I'll be in Rosemont
some time tomorrow afternoon. Now, who are these prospective purchasers
you mentioned, and just how prospective, in terms of United States
currency, are they?"

"Well, for one, there's Arnold Rivers; he's offering ten thousand for the
collection. I suppose you know of him; he has an antique-arms business at
Rosemont."

"I've done some business with him," Rand admitted. "Who else?"

"There's a commission-dealer named Carl Gwinnett, who wants to handle
the collection for us, for twenty per cent. I'm told that that isn't an
unusually exorbitant commission, but I'm not exactly crazy about the
idea."

"You shouldn't be, if you want your money in a hurry," Rand told her.
"He'd take at le