Gerry selected a glass bottle, and, opening it deliberately, shook some pink pills into an envelope.
“Henry Runes? Isn’t he a cousin of Overton’s?” the doctor asked.
“Is there any one who isn’t a cousin of Overton’s, since he got famous?” snapped the judge.
“Has he got famous? I thought he had only died. It’s Faunce who’s famous.”
“That’s the way of the world. A man’s got to be very much alive nowadays to be famous overnight.”
“I hear that you have undertaken to be his political sponsor. They say he’s nursing a boom for Congress.”
“He’d better do that than go to his death like Overton, hadn’t he?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever confused him with Overton. He isn’t of the same mental caliber. What’s the idea, Hadley?”
The judge twisted in his chair with a wry face.
“If he doesn’t take up a career here, they’ll put him in command of the new expedition. He’s booked for it, I believe. I’d rather have him settle down and go into politics here. There’s good stuff in him, and he’s got what the newspapers call personal magnetism.”