question:  Which is the best description of the relationship between Linton and Howell?
context: FEBRUARY STRAWBERRIES By JIM HARMON How much is the impossible worth? [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, March 1961. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] Linton lay down his steel fork beside the massively solid transparency of the restaurant water glass. Howell, the man across the table from him, looked embarrassed without looking. Howell had to know that he would remember. "The man who isn't Snead is leaving," Linton said, describing the scene over Howell's shoulder. A thick-bodied man at the next table leaned his groaning chair back intimately against Linton's own chair. Howell breathed in deeply and sucked back Linton's attention. "Oh, well, 'dead,'" Howell replied. He's not Sherlock Holmes or the Frankenstein Monster—there's no doubt or semantic leeway to the thing." "You know how it is," Howell said. Even after they had let him out of the asylum as cured, he still secretly believed he had known a genuine affection for her. Linton felt that his silence was asking Howell by this time. "I don't know, mind you," Howell said, puffing out tobacco smoke, "but I suppose he might have been resurrected." Linton asked, thinking: God? Howell meant that some people had a system of making it appear that a person had died in order to gain some illegal advantage. But by saying something so patently ridiculous, Linton hoped to bring the contradicting truth to the surface immediately. I guess that's how it is," Howell agreed. "But it's wonderful," Linton said, thinking his immediate thoughts. "Look, Frank, you can't legalize a thing like resurrection," Howell said with feigned patience. "There are a lot of fakes and quacks in the resurrection business. The charges, if any, come under general vice classification." "They didn't talk much about white slavery in Victorian England.
output:  Howell is trying to be supportive but is exhausted by Linton's insistence
options:  They are business partners trying to find a way to bring back someone they knew  Howell is trying to be supportive but is exhausted by Linton's insistence  They are new friends figuring out their rapport, so Howell wants to help however he can  Howell is only meeting with Linton out of a feeling of obligation and doesn't care for him much