“Yes, sir! And I’ll tell you what is a hell of a thing! This is a hell of a way to treat George Blake’s nephew! A hell of a way!” he said. “If my uncle knew about this he’d come down here and tear their damned little jail to pieces! He’d ruin their town!” he cried. “Yes, sir! He’d wash’em out and send’em to the cleaners! Why!” Blake now said in a tone of drunken boastfulness, “there are 70, 000 Blake dealers in the United States alone—and if they knew that I was here,” he said, “every damned one of them would be on his way here in five minutes to get us out!”
“Lord! Lord!” said Robert, in a kind of mournful brooding ululation, as if he had not heard Blake’s words at all. “Who’d have thought it? A young attorney just admitted to the bar six weeks ago and here he is in jail! The damnedest thing I ever heard of!” he declared.
“Yes, sir,” Blake declared, not by way of response, but with the same self-centred concentration on the indignity which had been visited on him. “If you told any Blake dealer in the country that George Blake’s nephew was down here in the Blackstone jail, he wouldn’t believe you. Uncle George will carry this thing to the Supreme Court when we get out,” he said. “It is certainly a hell of a thing to happen to George Blake’s nephew!”
“Yes, sir,” Robert answered, “a hell of a thing to happen is right—and here I’ve only had my licence to practise for six weeks. Why, it’s awful!” he said solemnly.
“Robert!” Blake cried suddenly, getting to his feet.—“Do you guess these damned Blackstone cops know who I am? Do you guess they realize they’ve got George Blake’s nephew here?” Here he went to the door of his cell, rattled it violently, and yelled: “Hey—y! I’m George Blake’s nephew! Do you know you’ve got George Blake’s nephew back here? Come and let me out!” he shouted. No one answered.
Then they would be silent for a while, and mournful, brooding drunken time would pass around them.
Then Blake would say:
“Robert?”
“What do you want?” said Robert mournfully.
“What time is it?”
“Hell, how do I know what time it is?” said Robert in a sullen and protesting tone. “You know they took my watch.” Then there would be silence for a moment more.
“Emmet?” Robert would then say.
