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The Trial

Franz Kafka

W o r k r e r o d

u c e d w i t h n o

e d i t o r i a l r e s

o n s i b i l i t



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Chapter One Arrest - Conversation witMrs. Grubach - Then Miss Bürstner

Someone must have been telling lies abouJosef K., he knew he had done nothing wronbut, one morning, he was arrested. Every daat eight in the morning he was brought h

breakfast by Mrs. Grubach's cook - MrGrubach was his landlady - but today she didn't come. That had never happened before. Kwaited a little while, looked from his pillow a

the old woman who lived opposite and whwas watching him with an inquisitiveness quiunusual for her, and finally, both hungry andisconcerted, rang the bell. There was immedately a knock at the door and a man entered

He had never seen the man in this house before. He was slim but firmly built, his clothewere black and close-fitting, with many foldand pockets, buckles and buttons and a belt, a

of which gave the impression of being ver



practical but without making it very clear whathey were actually for. "Who are you?" askeK., sitting half upright in his bed. The man

however, ignored the question as if his arrivsimply had to be accepted, and merely replied"You rang?" "Anna should have brought me mbreakfast," said K. He tried to work out who thman actually was, first in silence, just throug

observation and by thinking about it, but thman didn't stay still to be looked at for verlong. Instead he went over to the door, openeit slightly, and said to someone who wa

clearly standing immediately behind it, "Hwants Anna to bring him his breakfast." Therwas a little laughter in the neighbouring roomit was not clear from the sound of it whethethere were several people laughing. Th

strange man could not have learned anythinfrom it that he hadn't known already, but nowhe said to K., as if making his report "It is nopossible." "It would be the first time that's happened," said K., as he jumped out of bed an



quickly pulled on his trousers. "I want to sewho that is in the next room, and why it is thaMrs. Grubach has let me be disturbed in th

way." It immediately occurred to him that hneedn't have said this out loud, and that hmust to some extent have acknowledged theauthority by doing so, but that didn't seem important to him at the time. That, at least, is how

the stranger took it, as he said, "Don't you thinyou'd better stay where you are?" "I want nether to stay here nor to be spoken to by yountil you've introduced yourself." "I meant

for your own good," said the stranger anopened the door, this time without being askedThe next room, which K. entered more slowlthan he had intended, looked at first glancexactly the same as it had the previous evenin

It was Mrs. Grubach's living room, over-fillewith furniture, tablecloths, porcelain and photographs. Perhaps there was a little more spacin there than usual today, but if so it was noimmediately obvious, especially as the mai



difference was the presence of a man sitting bthe open window with a book from which hnow looked up. "You should have stayed i

your room! Didn't Franz tell you?" "And whais it you want, then?" said K., looking back anforth between this new acquaintance and thone named Franz, who had remained in thdoorway. Through the open window he no

ticed the old woman again, who had comclose to the window opposite so that she coulcontinue to see everything. She was showing ainquisitiveness that really made it seem like sh

was going senile. "I want to see Mrs. Grubac…," said K., making a movement as if tearinhimself away from the two men - even thougthey were standing well away from him - anwanted to go. "No," said the man at the win

dow, who threw his book down on a coffetable and stood up. "You can't go away wheyou're under arrest." "That's how it seems," saiK. "And why am I under arrest?" he then asked"That's something we're not allowed to tell you



Go into your room and wait there. Proceedingare underway and you'll learn about everything all in good time. It's not really part of m

job to be friendly towards you like this, buthope no-one, apart from Franz, will hear abouit, and he's been more friendly towards yothan he should have been, under the rulehimself. If you carry on having as much goo

luck as you have been with your arresting offcers then you can reckon on things going wewith you." K. wanted to sit down, but then hsaw that, apart from the chair by the window

there was nowhere anywhere in the roomwhere he could sit. "You'll get the chance to sefor yourself how true all this is," said Franz anboth men then walked up to K. They were significantly bigger than him, especially the se

ond man, who frequently slapped him on thshoulder. The two of them felt K.'s nightshirand said he would now have to wear one thawas of much lower quality, but that they woulkeep the nightshirt along with his other unde



clothes and return them to him if his casturned out well. "It's better for you if you givus the things than if you leave them in th

storeroom," they said. "Things have a tendencto go missing in the storeroom, and after a cetain amount of time they sell things ofwhether the case involved has come to an enor not. And cases like this can last a long tim

especially the ones that have been coming ulately. They'd give you the money they got fothem, but it wouldn't be very much as it's nowhat they're offered for them when they se

them that counts, it's how much they gslipped on the side, and things like that lostheir value anyway when they get passed ofrom hand to hand, year after year." K. paihardly any attention to what they were saying

he did not place much value on what he mahave still possessed or on who decided whahappened to them. It was much more impotant to him to get a clear understanding of hposition, but he could not think clearly whi



these people were here, the second policemanbelly - and they could only be policemen looked friendly enough, sticking out toward

him, but when K. looked up and saw his dryboney face it did not seem to fit with the bodyHis strong nose twisted to one side as if ignoing K. and sharing an understanding with thother policeman. What sort of people wer

these? What were they talking about? Whaoffice did they belong to? K. was living in a frecountry, after all, everywhere was at peace, alaws were decent and were upheld, who was

who dared accost him in his own home? Hwas always inclined to take life as lightly as hcould, to cross bridges when he came to thempay no heed for the future, even when everything seemed under threat. But here that di

not seem the right thing to do. He could havtaken it all as a joke, a big joke set up by hcolleagues at the bank for some unknown reason, or also perhaps because today was his thitieth birthday, it was all possible of cours



maybe all he had to do was laugh in the policemen's face in some way and they woullaugh with him, maybe they were tradesme

from the corner of the street, they looked likthey might be - but he was nonetheless detemined, ever since he first caught sight of thone called Franz, not to lose any slight advantage he might have had over these peopl

There was a very slight risk that people woullater say he couldn't understand a joke, butalthough he wasn't normally in the habit olearning from experience - he might also hav

had a few unimportant occasions in minwhen, unlike his more cautious friends, he haacted with no thought at all for what mighfollow and had been made to suffer for it. Hdidn't want that to happen again, not this tim

at least; if they were play-acting he would aalong with them.

He still had time. "Allow me," he said, and huried between the two policemen through int



his room. "He seems sensible enough," he hearthem say behind him. Once in his room, hquickly pulled open the drawer of his writin

desk, everything in it was very tidy but in hagitation he was unable to find the identification documents he was looking for straighaway. He finally found his bicycle permit anwas about to go back to the policemen with

when it seemed to him too petty, so he carrieon searching until he found his birth certificatJust as he got back in the adjoining room thdoor on the other side opened and Mr

Grubach was about to enter. He only saw hefor an instant, for as soon as she recognised Kshe was clearly embarrassed, asked for forgiveness and disappeared, closing the door behinher very carefully. "Do come in," K. could hav

said just then. But now he stood in the middlof the room with his papers in his hand anstill looking at the door which did not opeagain. He stayed like that until he was startleout of it by the shout of the policeman who sa



at the little table at the open window and, as Know saw, was eating his breakfast. "Why didnshe come in?" he asked. "She's not allowed to

said the big policeman. "You're under arresaren't you." "But how can I be under arresAnd how come it's like this?" "Now you'rstarting again," said the policeman, dipping piece of buttered bread in the honeypot. "W

don't answer questions like that." "You wihave to answer them," said K. "Here are midentification papers, now show me yours andcertainly want to see the arrest warrant." "Oh

my God!" said the policeman. "In a position likyours, and you think you can start giving oders, do you? It won't do you any good to gus on the wrong side, even if you think it willwe're probably more on your side that anyon

else you know!" "That's true, you know, youbetter believe it," said Franz, holding a cup ocoffee in his hand which he did not lift to hmouth but looked at K. in a way that waprobably meant to be full of meaning but coul



not actually be understood. K. found himselwithout intending it, in a mute dialogue witFranz, but then slapped his hand down on h

papers and said, "Here are my identity documents." "And what do you want us to do abouit?" replied the big policeman, loudly. "The wayou're carrying on, it's worse than a child. Whis it you want? Do you want to get this grea

bloody trial of yours over with quickly by talking about ID and arrest warrants with usWe're just coppers, that's all we are. Junior offcers like us hardly know one end of an ID car

from another, all we've got to do with you keep an eye on you for ten hours a day and gepaid for it. That's all we are. Mind you, whawe can do is make sure that the high officiawe work for find out just what sort of person

is they're going to arrest, and why he should barrested, before they issue the warrant. Thereno mistake there. Our authorities as far as know, and I only know the lowest grades, dongo out looking for guilt among the public; it



the guilt that draws them out, like it says in thlaw, and they have to send us police officerout. That's the law. Where d'you think there

be any mistake there?" "I don't know this lawsaid K. "So much the worse for you, then," saithe policeman. "It's probably exists only in youheads," said K., he wanted, in some way, tinsinuate his way into the thoughts of the po

licemen, to re-shape those thoughts to his benfit or to make himself at home there. But thpoliceman just said dismissively, "You'll finout when it affects you." Franz joined in, an

said, "Look at this, Willem, he admits he doen't know the law and at the same time insishe's innocent." "You're quite right, but we canget him to understand a thing," said the otheK. stopped talking with them; do I, he though

to himself, do I really have to carry on gettintangled up with the chattering of base funtionaries like this? - and they admit themselvethat they are of the lowest position. They'rtalking about things of which they don't hav



the slightest understanding, anyway. It's onlbecause of their stupidity that they're able to bso sure of themselves. I just need few word

with someone of the same social standing amyself and everything will be incomparablclearer, much clearer than a long conversatiowith these two can make it. He walked up andown the free space in the room a couple o

times, across the street he could see the olwoman who, now, had pulled an old manmuch older than herself, up to the window anhad her arms around him. K. had to put an en

to this display, "Take me to your superior," hsaid. "As soon as he wants to see you. Not before," said the policeman, the one called Wilem. "And now my advice to you," he added"is to go into your room, stay calm, and wa

and see what's to be done with you. If you takour advice, you won't tire yourself out thinkinabout things to no purpose, you need to puyourself together as there's a lot that's going trequired of you. You've not behaved toward



us the way we deserve after being so good tyou, you forget that we, whatever we are, we'rstill free men and you're not, and that's quite a

advantage. But in spite of all that we're stiwilling, if you've got the money, to go and geyou some breakfast from the café over throad."

Without giving any answer to this offer, Kstood still for some time. Perhaps, if he openethe door of the next room or even the frondoor, the two of them would not dare to stanin his way, perhaps that would be the simpleway to settle the whole thing, by bringing it ta head. But maybe they would grab him, and he were thrown down on the ground he woullose all the advantage he, in a certain respec

had over them. So he decided on the more cetain solution, the way things would go in thnatural course of events, and went back in hroom without another word either from him ofrom the policemen.



He threw himself down on his bed, and fromthe dressing table he took the nice apple that hhad put there the previous evening for h

breakfast. Now it was all the breakfast he haand anyway, as he confirmed as soon as htook his first, big bite of it, it was far better thaa breakfast he could have had through the goowill of the policemen from the dirty café. H

felt well and confident, he had failed to go intwork at the bank this morning but that couleasily be excused because of the relatively higposition he held there. Should he really send i

his explanation? He wondered about it. If nobody believed him, and in this case that woulbe understandable, he could bring MrGrubach in as a witness, or even the old pafrom across the street, who probably even now

were on their way over to the window opposite. It puzzled K., at least it puzzled him looking at it from the policemen's point of viewthat they had made him go into the room anleft him alone there, where he had ten differen



ways of killing himself. At the same timthough, he asked himself, this time looking at from his own point of view, what reason h

could have to do so. Because those two wersitting there in the next room and had taken hbreakfast, perhaps? It would have been spointless to kill himself that, even if he hawanted to, the pointlessness would have mad

him unable. Maybe, if the policemen had nobeen so obviously limited in their mental abilties, it could have been supposed that they hacome to the same conclusion and saw no dan

ger in leaving him alone because of it. Thecould watch now, if they wanted, and see howhe went over to the cupboard in the wall wherhe kept a bottle of good schnapps, how he firemptied a glass of it in place of his breakfa

and how he then took a second glassful in oder to give himself courage, the last one just aa precaution for the unlikely chance it would bneeded.



Then he was so startled by a shout to him fromthe other room that he struck his teeth againthe glass. "The supervisor wants to see you!"

voice said. It was only the shout that startlehim, this curt, abrupt, military shout, that hwould not have expected from the policemacalled Franz. In itself, he found the order verwelcome. "At last!" he called back, locked th

cupboard and, without delay, hurried into thnext room. The two policemen were standinthere and chased him back into his bedroom aif that were a matter of course. "What d'yo

think you're doing?" they cried. "Think you'rgoing to see the supervisor dressed in just youshirt, do you? He'd see to it you got a righthumping, and us and all!" "Let go of me foGod's sake!" called K., who had already bee

pushed back as far as his wardrobe, "if you acost me when I'm still in bed you can't expect tfind me in my evening dress." "That won't helyou," said the policemen, who always becamvery quiet, almost sad, when K. began to shou



and in that way confused him or, to some extent, brought him to his senses. "Ridiculouformalities!" he grumbled, as he lifted his coa

from the chair and kept it in both his hands foa little while, as if holding it out for the policemen's inspection. They shook their heads. "Itgot to be a black coat," they said. At that, Kthrew the coat to the floor and said - withou

knowing even himself what he meant by it "Well it's not going to be the main trial, afteall." The policemen laughed, but continued tinsist, "It's got to be a black coat." "Well that

alright by me if it makes things go any fastersaid K. He opened the wardrobe himself, spena long time searching through all the clotheand chose his best black suit which had a shojacket that had greatly surprised those wh

knew him, then he also pulled out a fresh shiand began, carefully, to get dressed. He secretltold himself that he had succeeded in speedinthings up by letting the policemen forget tmake him have a bath. He watched them to se



if they might remember after all, but of coursit never occurred to them, although Willem dinot forget to send Franz up to the superviso

with the message saying that K. was gettindressed.

Once he was properly dressed, K. had to pasby Willem as he went through the next room

into the one beyond, the door of which waalready wide open. K. knew very well that throom had recently been let to a typist calle'Miss Bürstner'. She was in the habit of goinout to work very early and coming back homvery late, and K. had never exchanged morthan a few words of greeting with her. Nowher bedside table had been pulled into thmiddle of the room to be used as a desk fo

these proceedings, and the supervisor sat behind it. He had his legs crossed, and hathrown one arm over the backrest of the chair.

In one corner of the room there were thre

young people looking at the photographs be



longing to Miss Bürstner that had been put inta piece of fabric on the wall. Hung up on thhandle of the open window was a white blous

At the window across the street, there was thold pair again, although now their number haincreased, as behind them, and far taller thathey were, stood a man with an open shirt thashowed his chest and a reddish goatee bear

which he squeezed and twisted with his fingers. "Josef K.?" asked the supervisor, perhapmerely to attract K.'s attention as he lookeround the room. K. nodded. "I daresay yo

were quite surprised by all that's been takinplace this morning," said the supervisor awith both hands, he pushed away the few itemon the bedside table - the candle and box omatches, a book and a pin cushion which la

there as if they were things he would need fohis own business. "Certainly," said K., and hbegan to feel relaxed now that, at last, he stooin front of someone with some sense, someonwith whom he would be able to talk about h



situation. "Certainly I'm surprised, but I'm noin any way very surprised." "You're not versurprised?" asked the supervisor, as he pos

tioned the candle in the middle of the table anthe other things in a group around it. "Perhapyou don't quite understand me," K. hurriedlpointed out. "What I mean is …" here K. brokoff what he was saying and looked round fo

somewhere to sit. "I may sit down, mayn't Ihe asked. "That's not usual," the supervisoanswered. "What I mean is…," said K. withoudelaying a second time, "that, yes, I am ver

surprised but when you've been in the worlfor thirty years already and had to make youown way through everything yourself, whichas been my lot, then you become hardened tsurprises and don't take them too hard. Espe

cially not what's happened today." "Why espcially not what's happened today?" "I wouldnwant to say that I see all of this as a joke, yoseem to have gone to too much trouble makinall these arrangements for that. Everyone in th



house must be taking part in it as well as all oyou, that would be going beyond what coulbe a joke. So I don't want to say that this is

joke." "Quite right," said the supervisor, lookinto see how many matches were left in the bo"But on the other hand," K. went on, lookinround at everyone there and even wishing hcould get the attention of the three who wer

looking at the photographs, "on the other hanthis really can't be all that important. That folows from the fact that I've been indicted, bucan't think of the slightest offence for which

could be indicted. But even that is all beside thpoint, the main question is: Who is issuing thindictment? What office is conducting this afair? Are you officials? None of you is wearina uniform, unless what you are wearing" - her

he turned towards Franz - "is meant to be uniform, it's actually more of a travelling suit.require a clear answer to all these questionand I'm quite sure that once things have beemade clear we can take our leave of each othe



on the best of terms." The supervisor slammethe box of matches down on the table. "You'rmaking a big mistake," he said. "These gentle

men and I have got nothing to do with youbusiness, in fact we know almost nothing abouyou. We could be wearing uniforms as propeand exact as you like and your situatiowouldn't be any the worse for it. As to whethe

you're on a charge, I can't give you any sort oclear answer to that, I don't even know whetheyou are or not. You're under arrest, you're quiright about that, but I don't know any mor

than that. Maybe these officers have been chichatting with you, well if they have that's all is, chit- chat. I can't give you an answer to youquestions, but I can give you a bit of advicYou'd better think less about us and what

going to happen to you, and think a bit morabout yourself. And stop making all this fusabout your sense of innocence; you don't maksuch a bad impression, but with all this fusyou're damaging it. And you ought to do a b



less talking, too. Almost everything you've saiso far has been things we could have takefrom your behaviour, even if you'd said no mo

re than a few words. And what you have saihas not exactly been in your favour."

K. stared at the supervisor. Was this man, probably younger than he was, lecturing him like

schoolmaster? Was he being punished for hhonesty with a telling off? And was he to learnothing about the reasons for his arrest or thoswho were arresting him? He became somewhacross and began to walk up and down. No-onstopped him doing this and he pushed his sleeves back, felt his chest, straightened his haiwent over to the three men, said, "It makes nsense," at which these three turned round t

face him and came towards him with seriouexpressions. He finally came again to a halt ifront of the supervisor's desk. "State AttorneHasterer is a good friend of mine," he said, "caI telephone him?" "Certainly," said the superv





ing what was going on. The old couple wanteto get up but the man behind them calmethem down. "We've got some kind of audienc

over there," called K. to the supervisor, quitloudly, as he pointed out with his forefinge"Go away," he then called across to them. Anthe three of them did immediately retreat a fewsteps, the old pair even found themselves be

hind the man who then concealed them witthe breadth of his body and seemed, going bthe movements of his mouth, to be saying something incomprehensible into the distanc

They did not disappear entirely, though, buseemed to be waiting for the moment whethey could come back to the window withoubeing noticed. "Intrusive, thoughtless peoplesaid K. as he turned back into the room. Th

supervisor may have agreed with him, at leaK. thought that was what he saw from the coner of his eye. But it was just as possible that hhad not even been listening as he had his hanpressed firmly down on the table and seeme



to be comparing the length of his fingers. Thtwo policemen were sitting on a chest coverewith a coloured blanket, rubbing their knee

The three young people had put their hands otheir hips and were looking round aimlesslyEverything was still, like in some office that habeen forgotten about. "Now, gentlemen," calleout K., and for a moment it seemed as if he wa

carrying all of them on his shoulders, "it looklike your business with me is over with. In mopinion, it's best now to stop wondering abouwhether you're proceeding correctly or inco

rectly, and to bring the matter to a peacefuclose with a mutual handshake. If you are othe same opinion, then please…" and he waked up to the supervisor's desk and held ouhis hand to him. The supervisor raised his eye

bit his lip and looked at K.'s outstretched handK still believed the supervisor would do as hsuggested. But instead, he stood up, picked ua hard round hat that was laying on MisBürstner's bed and put it carefully onto h



head, using both hands as if trying on a newhat. "Everything seems so simple to you, doen't it," he said to K. as he did so, "so you thin

we should bring the matter to a peaceful closdo you. No, no, that won't do. Mind you, on thother hand I certainly wouldn't want you tthink there's no hope for you. No, why shoulyou think that? You're simply under arres

nothing more than that. That's what I had to teyou, that's what I've done and now I've seehow you've taken it. That's enough for one daand we can take our leave of each other, for th

time being at least. I expect you'll want to go ito the bank now, won't you." "In to the bankasked K., "I thought I was under arrest." K. saithis with a certain amount of defiance as, athough his handshake had not been accepted

he was feeling more independent of all thespeople, especially since the supervisor hastood up. He was playing with them. If theleft, he had decided he would run after themand offer to let them arrest him. That's why h



even repeated, "How can I go in to the banwhen I'm under arrest?" "I see you've misunderstood me," said the supervisor who wa

already at the door. "It's true that you're undearrest, but that shouldn't stop you from carrying out your job. And there shouldn't be anything to stop you carrying on with your usulife." "In that case it's not too bad, being unde

arrest," said K., and went up close to the supevisor. "I never meant it should be anythinelse," he replied. "It hardly seems to have beenecessary to notify me of the arrest in tha

case," said K., and went even closer. The otherhad also come closer. All of them had gatheretogether into a narrow space by the door. "Thawas my duty," said the supervisor. "A silly duty," said K., unyielding. "Maybe so," replied th

supervisor, "only don't let's waste our time talking on like this. I had assumed you'd be waning to go to the bank. As you're paying closattention to every word I'll add this: I'm noforcing you to go to the bank, I'd just assume



you wanted to. And to make things easier foyou, and to let you get to the bank with as littlfuss as possible I've put these three gentlemen

colleagues of yours, at your disposal." "Whatthat?" exclaimed K., and looked at the three iastonishment. He could only remember seeinthem in their group by the photographs, buthese characterless, anaemic young people wer

indeed officials from his bank, not colleagues ohis, that was putting it too high and it showedgap in the omniscience of the supervisor, buthey were nonetheless junior members of sta

at the bank. How could K. have failed to sethat? How occupied he must have been witthe supervisor and the policemen not to havrecognised these three! Rabensteiner, with hstiff demeanour and swinging hands, Kullich

with his blonde hair and deep-set eyes, anKaminer, with his involuntary grin caused bchronic muscle spasms. "Good morning," saiK. after a while, extending his hand to the gentlemen as they bowed correctly to him. "I didn



recognise you at all. So, we'll go into work nowshall we?" The gentlemen laughed and noddeenthusiastically, as if that was what they ha

been waiting for all the time, except that K. haleft his hat in his room so they all dashed, onafter another, into the room to fetch it, whiccaused a certain amount of embarrassment. Kstood where he was and watched them throug

the open double doorway, the last to go, ocourse, was the apathetic Rabensteiner whhad broken into no more than an elegant troKaminer got to the hat and K., as he often ha

to do at the bank, forcibly reminded himsethat the grin was not deliberate, that he in fawasn't able to grin deliberately. At that momenMrs. Grubach opened the door from the halway into the living room where all the peop

were. She did not seem to feel guilty about anything at all, and K., as often before, lookedown at the belt of her apron which, for nreason, cut so deeply into her hefty body. Oncdownstairs, K., with his watch in his hand, de



cided to take a taxi - he had already been delayed by half an hour and there was no need tmake the delay any longer. Kaminer ran to th

corner to summon it, and the two others wermaking obvious efforts to keep K. divertewhen Kullich pointed to the doorway of thhouse on the other side of the street where thlarge man with the blonde goatee beard ap

peared and, a little embarrassed at first at leting himself be seen in his full height, steppeback to the wall and leant against it. The olcouple were probably still on the stairs. K. wa

cross with Kullich for pointing out this mawhom he had already seen himself, in fawhom he had been expecting. "Don't look ahim!" he snapped, without noticing how odd was to speak to free men in this way. But ther

was no explanation needed anyway as just thethe taxi arrived, they sat inside and set off. Inside the taxi, K. remembered that he had nonoticed the supervisor and the policemen leaving - the supervisor had stopped him noticin



the three bank staff and now the three banstaff had stopped him noticing the supervisoThis showed that K. was not very attentive, an

he resolved to watch himself more carefully ithis respect. Nonetheless, he gave it no thoughas he twisted himself round and leant over ontthe rear shelf of the car to catch sight of the supervisor and the policemen if he could. But h

turned back round straight away and leancomfortably into the corner of the taxi withoueven having made the effort to see anyone. Athough it did not seem like it, now was just th

time when he needed some encouragement, buthe gentlemen seemed tired just then, Rabensteiner looked out of the car to the right, Kulich to the left and only Kaminer was there withis grin at K.'s service. It would have been in

humane to make fun of that.

That spring, whenever possible, K. usuallspent his evenings after work - he usually stayed in the office until nine o'clock - with a sho



walk, either by himself or in the company osome of the bank officials, and then he woulgo into a pub where he would sit at the regu

lars' table with mostly older men until elevenThere were, however, also exceptions to thhabit, times, for instance, when K. was inviteby the bank's manager (whom he greatly respected for his industry and trustworthiness) t

go with him for a ride in his car or to eat dinnewith him at his large house. K. would also gonce a week, to see a girl called Elsa who woked as a waitress in a wine bar through th

night until late in the morning. During the daytime she only received visitors while still ibed.

That evening, though, - the day had passe

quickly with a lot of hard work and many rspectful and friendly birthday greetings - Kwanted to go straight home. Each time he haany small break from the day's work he considered, without knowing exactly what he had i



mind, that Mrs. Grubach's flat seemed to havbeen put into great disarray by the events othat morning, and that it was up to him to pu

it back into order. Once order had been restored, every trace of those events would havbeen erased and everything would take its previous course once more. In particular, therwas nothing to fear from the three bank off

cials, they had immersed themselves back inttheir paperwork and there was no alteration tbe seen in them. K. had called each of themseparately or all together, into his office tha

day for no other reason than to observe themhe was always satisfied and had always beeable to let them go again.

At half past nine that evening, when he arrive

back in front of the building where he lived, hmet a young lad in the doorway who was standing there, his legs apart and smoking a pip"Who are you?" immediately asked K., bringinhis face close to the lad's, as it was hard to se



in the half light of the landing. "I'm the landlord's son, sir," answered the lad, taking thpipe from his mouth and stepping to one sid

"The landlord's son?" asked K., and impatientlknocked on the ground with his stick. "Did yowant anything, sir? Would you like me to fetcmy father?" "No, no," said K., there was something forgiving in his voice, as if the boy ha

harmed him in some way and he was excusinhim. "It's alright," he said then, and went onbut before going up the stairs he turned rounonce more.

He could have gone directly to his room, but ahe wanted to speak with Mrs. Grubach he wenstraight to her door and knocked. She was saat the table with a knitted stocking and a pile o

old stockings in front of her. K. apologised, little embarrassed at coming so late, but MrGrubach was very friendly and did not want thear any apology, she was always ready tspeak to him, he knew very well that he wa



her best and her favourite tenant. K. lookeround the room, it looked exactly as it usualldid, the breakfast dishes, which had been o

the table by the window that morning, had aready been cleared away. "A woman's handwill do many things when no-one's looking," hthought, he might himself have smashed all thdishes on the spot but certainly would not hav

been able to carry it all out. He looked at MrGrubach with some gratitude. "Why are yoworking so late?" he asked. They were nowboth sitting at the table, and K. now and the

sank his hands into the pile of stockings. "There's a lot of work to do," she said, "during thday I belong to the tenants; if I'm to sort out mown things there are only the evenings left tme." "I fear I may have caused you some excep

tional work today." "How do you mean, MK.?" she asked, becoming more interested anleaving her work in her lap. "I mean the mewho were here this morning." "Oh, I see," shsaid, and went peacefully back to what she wa



doing, "that was no trouble, not especially." Klooked on in silence as she took up the knittestocking once more. She seems surprised at m

mentioning it, he thought, she seems to thinit's improper for me to mention it. All the morimportant for me to do so. An old woman is thonly person I can speak about it with. "But must have caused some work for you," he sai

then, "but it won't happen again." "No, it canhappen again," she agreed, and smiled at K. ia way that was almost pained. "Do you meathat seriously?" asked K. "Yes," she said, mor

gently, "but the important thing is you mustntake it too hard. There are so many awfuthings happening in the world! As you're beinso honest with me, Mr. K., I can admit to yothat I listened to a little of what was going o

from behind the door, and that those two policemen told me one or two things as well. Itall to do with your happiness, and that's somthing that's quite close to my heart, perhapmore than it should be as I am, after all, onl





my way and come straight to you, if I'd donsomething like having my breakfast in the kichen as an exception, asked you to bring m

clothes from my room, in short, if I had behaved sensibly then nothing more would havhappened, everything that was waiting to happen would have been stifled. People are so oten unprepared. In the bank, for example, I am

well prepared, nothing of this sort could possbly happen to me there, I have my own assitant there, there are telephones for internal anexternal calls in front of me on the desk, I con

tinually receive visits from people, representatives, officials, but besides that, and most importantly, I'm always occupied with my workthat's to say I'm always alert, it would even bepleasure for me to find myself faced with some

thing of that sort. But now it's over with, anddidn't really even want to talk about it anmore, only I wanted to hear what you, as a sensible woman, thought about it all, and I'm verglad to hear that we're in agreement. But now



you must give me your hand, an agreement othis sort needs to be confirmed with a handshake."

Will she shake hands with me? The supervisodidn't shake hands, he thought, and looked athe woman differently from before, examininher. She stood up, as he had also stood up, an

was a little self- conscious, she hadn't been ablto understand everything that K. said. As result of this self consciousness she said somthing that she certainly did not intend and cetainly was not appropriate. "Don't take it shard, Mr. K.," she said, with tears in her voicand also, of course, forgetting the handshake. didn't know I was taking it hard," said K., feeing suddenly tired and seeing that if this wo

man did agree with him it was of very littvalue.

Before going out the door he asked, "Is MisBürstner home?" "No," said Mrs. Grubach, smi

ing as she gave this simple piece of informa



tion, saying something sensible at last. "She's athe theatre. Did you want to see her? Shouldgive her a message?" "I, er, I just wanted t

have a few words with her." "I'm afraid I donknow when she's coming in; she usually geback late when she's been to the theatre." "really doesn't matter," said K. his head hanginas he turned to the door to leave, "I just wante

to give her my apology for taking over heroom today." "There's no need for that, Mr. Kyou're too conscientious, the young lady doen't know anything about it, she hasn't bee

home since early this morning and everythingbeen tidied up again, you can see for yourselfAnd she opened the door to Miss Bürstnerroom. "Thank you, I'll take your word for itsaid K, but went nonetheless over to the ope

door. The moon shone quietly into the unlroom. As far as could be seen, everything waindeed in its place, not even the blouse wahanging on the window handle. The pillows othe bed looked remarkably plump as they la



half in the moonlight. "Miss Bürstner often comes home late," said K., looking at Mrs. Grubach as if that were her responsibility. "That

how young people are!" said Mrs. Grubach texcuse herself. "Of course, of course," said K"but it can be taken too far." "Yes, it can besaid Mrs. Grubach, "you're so right, Mr. K. Pehaps it is in this case. I certainly wouldn't wan

to say anything nasty about Miss Bürstner, shis a good, sweet girl, friendly, tidy, punctuaworks hard, I appreciate all that very much, buone thing is true, she ought to have more prid

be a bit less forthcoming. Twice this montalready, in the street over the way, I've seen hewith a different gentleman. I really don't liksaying this, you're the only one I've said this tMr. K., I swear to God, but I'm going to have n

choice but to have a few words with MisBürstner about it myself. And it's not the onlthing about her that I'm worried about." "MrGrubach, you are on quite the wrong tracksaid K., so angry that he was hardly able t



hide it, "and you have moreover misundestood what I was saying about Miss Bürstnethat is not what I meant. In fact I warn you qu

te directly not to say anything to her, you arquite mistaken, I know Miss Bürstner very weand there is no truth at all in what you sayAnd what's more, perhaps I'm going to far,don't want to get in your way, say to her wha

ever you see fit. Good night." "Mr. K.," saiMrs. Grubach as if asking him for somethinand hurrying to his door which he had alreadopened, "I don't want to speak to Miss Bürstne

at all, not yet, of course I'll continue to keep aeye on her but you're the only one I've tolwhat I know. And it is, after all something thaeveryone who lets rooms has to do if she's tkeep the house decent, that's all I'm trying t

do." "Decent!" called out K. through the crack ithe door, "if you want to keep the house decenyou'll first have to give me notice." Then hslammed the door shut, there was a gentknocking to which he paid no more attention.



He did not feel at all like going to bed, so hdecided to stay up, and this would also givhim the chance to find out when Miss Bürstne

would arrive home. Perhaps it would also stibe possible, even if a little inappropriate, thave a few words with her. As he lay there bthe window, pressing his hands to his tireeyes, he even thought for a moment that h

might punish Mrs. Grubach by persuadinMiss Bürstner to give in her notice at the samtime as he would. But he immediately realisethat that would be shockingly excessive, an

there would even be the suspicion that he wamoving house because of the incidents of thamorning. Nothing would have been more nonsensical and, above all, more pointless and contemptible.

When he had become tired of looking out ontthe empty street he slightly opened the door tthe living room so that he could see anyonwho entered the flat from where he was and la



down on the couch. He lay there, quietly smoking a cigar, until about eleven o'clock. He wan't able to hold out longer than that, and went

little way into the hallway as if in that way hcould make Miss Bürstner arrive sooner. Hhad no particular desire for her, he could noeven remember what she looked like, but nowhe wanted to speak to her and it irritated him

that her late arrival home meant this day woulbe full of unease and disorder right to its verend. It was also her fault that he had not haany dinner that evening and that he had bee

unable to visit Elsa as he had intended. Hcould still make up for both of those thingthough, if he went to the wine bar where Elsworked. He wanted to do so even later, aftethe discussion with Miss Bürstner.

It was already gone half past eleven when someone could be heard in the stairway. K., whhad been lost in his thoughts in the hallwaywalking up and down loudly as if it were h



own room, fled behind his door. Miss Bürstnehad arrived. Shivering, she pulled a silk shawover her slender shoulders as she locked th

door. The next moment she would certainly ginto her room, where K. ought not to intrude ithe middle of the night; that meant he woulhave to speak to her now, but, unfortunatelyhe had not put the electric light on in his room

so that when he stepped out of the dark would give the impression of being an attacand would certainly, at the very least, havbeen quite alarming. There was no time to los

and in his helplessness he whispered througthe crack of the door, "Miss Bürstner." It sounded like he was pleading with her, not callinto her. "Is there someone there?" asked MisBürstner, looking round with her eyes wid

open. "It's me," said K. and came out. "Oh, MK.!" said Miss Bürstner with a smile. "GooEvening," and offered him her hand. "I wanteto have a word with you, if you would allowme?" "Now?" asked Miss Bürstner, "does





say," K. began, "that the matter really isn't athat urgent and we don't need to talk about right now, but …" "I never listen to introduc

tions," said Miss Bürstner. "That makes my joso much easier," said K. "This morning, to somextent through my fault, your room was mada little untidy, this happened because of peopI did not know and against my will but, as

said, because of my fault; I wanted to apologisfor it." "My room?" asked Miss Bürstner, aninstead of looking round the room scrutiniseK. "It is true," said K., and now, for the fir

time, they looked each other in the eyes, "thre's no point in saying exactly how this camabout." "But that's the interesting thing abouit," said Miss Bürstner. "No," said K. "Wethen," said Miss Bürstner, "I don't want to forc

my way into any secrets, if you insist that it's ono interest I won't insist. I'm quite happy tforgive you for it, as you ask, especially ascan't see anything at all that's been left untidyWith her hand laid flat on her lower hip, sh



made a tour around the room. At the mat whre the photographs were she stopped. "Look athis!" she cried. "My photographs really hav

been put in the wrong places. Oh, that's horrble. Someone really has been in my room without permission." K. nodded, and quietly curseKaminer who worked at his bank and who waalways active doing things that had neither us

nor purpose. "It is odd," said Miss Bürstne"that I'm forced to forbid you to do somethinthat you ought to have forbidden yourself tdo, namely to come into my room when I'm no

here." "But I did explain to you," said K., anwent over to join her by the photographs, "thait wasn't me who interfered with your photographs; but as you don't believe me I'll have tadmit that the investigating committee brough

along three bank employees with them, one othem must have touched your photographs anas soon as I get the chance I'll ask to have himdismissed from the bank. Yes, there was ainvestigating committee here," added K., as th



young lady was looking at him enquiringly"Because of you?" she asked. "Yes," answereK. "No!" the lady cried with a laugh. "Yes, the

were," said K., "you believe that I'm innocenthen, do you?" "Well now, innocent …" said thlady, "I don't want to start making any pronouncements that might have serious consquences, I don't really know you after all,

means they're dealing with a serious criminal they send an investigating committee straighout to get him. But you're not in custody nowat least I take it you've not escaped from priso

considering that you seem quite calm - so yocan't have committed any crime of that sort"Yes," said K., "but it might be that the investgating committee could see that I'm innocenor not so guilty as had been supposed." "Ye

that's certainly a possibility," said Miss Bürsner, who seemed very interested. "Listen," saiK., "you don't have much experience in legmatters." "No, that's true, I don't," said MisBürstner, "and I've often regretted it, as I'd lik



to know everything and I'm very interested ilegal matters. There's something peculiarly atractive about the law, isn't there? But I'll ce

tainly be perfecting my knowledge in this areas next month I start work in a legal office"That's very good," said K., "that means yoube able to give me some help with my trial"That could well be," said Miss Bürstner, "wh

not? I like to make use of what I know." "I meait quite seriously," said K., "or at least, half serously, as you do. This affair is too petty to cain a lawyer, but I could make good use of so

meone who could give me advice." "Yes, but I'm to give you advice I'll have to know whait's all about," said Miss Bürstner. "That's exactly the problem," said K., "I don't know thamyself." "So you have been making fun of m

then," said Miss Bürstner exceedingly disappointed, "you really ought not to try somethinlike that on at this time of night." And she stepped away from the photographs where thehad stood so long together. "Miss Bürstner, no



said K., "I'm not making fun of you. Please blieve me! I've already told you everything know. More than I know, in fact, as it actuall

wasn't even an investigating committee, thatjust what I called them because I don't knowwhat else to call them. There was no cross quetioning at all, I was merely arrested, but by committee." Miss Bürstner sat on the ottoma

and laughed again. "What was it like then?" shasked. "It was terrible" said K., although hmind was no longer on the subject, he had become totally absorbed by Miss Bürstner's gaz

who was supporting her chin on one hand - thelbow rested on the cushion of the ottoman and slowly stroking her hip with the othe"That's too vague," said Miss Bürstner. "Whattoo vague?" asked K. Then he remembere

himself and asked, "Would you like me to showyou what it was like?" He wanted to move isome way but did not want to leave. "I'm aready tired," said Miss Bürstner. "You arriveback so late," said K. "Now you've started tel



ing me off. Well I suppose I deserve it as shouldn't have let you in here in the first placand it turns out there wasn't even any point

"Oh, there was a point, you'll see now how important a point it was," said K. "May I movthis table away from your bedside and put here?" "What do you think you're doing?" saiMiss Bürstner. "Of course you can't!" "In tha

case I can't show you," said K., quite upset, as Miss Bürstner had committed some incomprehensible offence against him. "Alright then, you need it to show what you mean, just tak

the bedside table then," said Miss Bürstner, anafter a short pause added in a weak voice, "I'mso tired I'm allowing more than I ought to." Kput the little table in the middle of the roomand sat down behind it. "You have to get a pro

per idea of where the people were situated, it very interesting. I'm the supervisor, sitting ovethere on the chest are two policemen, standinnext to the photographs there are three younpeople. Hanging on the handle of the window





There was a series of loud, curt and regulaknocks at the door of the adjoining room. MisBürstner went pale and laid her hand on he

heart. K. was especially startled, as for a moment he had been quite unable to think of anything other than the events of that morning anthe girl for whom he was performing them. Hhad hardly pulled himself together when h

jumped over to Miss Bürstner and took hehand. "Don't be afraid," he whispered, "I'll pueverything right. But who can it be? It's onlthe living room next door, nobody sleeps i

there." "Yes they do," whispered Miss Bürstneinto K.'s ear, "a nephew of Mrs. Grubach's, acaptain in the army, has been sleeping thersince yesterday. There's no other room free. Iforgotten about it too. Why did you have t

shout like that? You've made me quite upset"There is no reason for it," said K., and, now ashe sank back onto the cushion, kissed her forehead. "Go away, go away," she said, huriedly sitting back up, "get out of here, go, wha





have attacked you then Mrs. Grubach will binformed of such and she will believe it without even losing her trust in me, that's how

much respect she has for me." Miss Bürstnelooked at the floor in front of her, quiet and little sunk in on herself. "Why would MrGrubach not believe that I've attacked youadded K. He looked at her hair in front of him

parted, bunched down, reddish and firmly helin place. He thought she would look up at himbut without changing her manner she said"Forgive me, but it was the suddenness of th

knocking that startled me so much, not smuch what the consequences of the captaibeing here might be. It was all so quiet afteyou'd shouted, and then there was the knocking, that's was made me so shocked, and I wa

sitting right by the door, the knocking waright next to me. Thank you for your suggetions, but I won't accept them. I can bear thresponsibility for anything that happens in mroom myself, and I can do so with anyone. I'm



surprised you don't realise just how insultinyour suggestions are and what they implabout me, although I certainly acknowledg

your good intentions. But now, please go, leavme alone, I need you to go now even more thaI did earlier. The couple of minutes you askefor have grown into half an hour, more thahalf an hour now." K. took hold of her hand

and then of her wrist, "You're not cross witme, though?" he said. She pulled her hanaway and answered, "No, no, I'm never croswith anyone." He grasped her wrist once mor

she tolerated it now and, in that way, lead himto the door. He had fully intended to leave. Buwhen he reached the door he came to a halt aif he hadn't expected to find a door there, MisBürstner made use of that moment to get he

self free, open the door, slip out into the halway and gently say to K. from there, "Nowcome along, please. Look," she pointed to thcaptain's door, from under which there was light shining, "he's put a light on and he's laug



hing at us." "Alright, I'm coming," said K., moved forward, took hold of her, kissed her on thmouth and then over her whole face like

thirsty animal lapping with its tongue when eventually finds water. He finally kissed her oher neck and her throat and left his lips pressethere for a long time. He did not look up untthere was a noise from the captain's room. "I

go now," he said, he wanted to address MisBürstner by her Christian name, but did noknow it. She gave him a tired nod, offered himher hand to kiss as she turned away as if sh

did not know what she was doing, and wenback into her room with her head bowed. short while later, K. was lying in his bed. Hvery soon went to sleep, but before he did hthought a little while about his behaviour, h

was satisfied with it but felt some surprise thahe was not more satisfied; he was seriouslworried about Miss Bürstner because of thcaptain.



Chapter Two First Cross-examination

K. was informed by telephone that there woulbe a small hearing concerning his case the folowing Sunday. He was made aware that thescross examinations would follow one anotheregularly, perhaps not every week but qui

frequently. On the one hand it was in everyone's interest to bring proceedings quickly ttheir conclusion, but on the other hand everaspect of the examinations had to be carried ou

thoroughly without lasting too long because othe associated stress. For these reasons, it habeen decided to hold a series of brief examinations following on one after another. Sundahad been chosen as the day for the hearings s

that K. would not be disturbed in his profesional work. It was assumed that he would bin agreement with this, but if he wished foanother date then, as far as possible, he woul

be accommodated. Cross-examinations coul



even be held in the night, for instance, but Kwould probably not be fresh enough at thatime. Anyway, as long as K. made no objection

the hearing would be left on Sundays. It was matter of course that he would have to appeawithout fail, there was probably no need tpoint this out to him. He would be given thnumber of the building where he was to pre

sent himself, which was in a street in a suburwell away from the city centre which K. hanever been to before.

Once he had received this notice, K. hung uthe receiver without giving an answer; he hadecided immediately to go there that Sunday, was certainly necessary, proceedings had begun and he had to face up to it, and this fir

examination would probably also be the lasHe was still standing in thought by the telephone when he heard the voice of the deputdirector behind him - he wanted to use the telephone but K. stood in his way. "Bad news





side of the telephone receiver while he waitefor his connection, but in giving this invitatiothe deputy director was humbling himself. Bu

K. would have to humiliate him a second timas a result, he said, "Thank you very much, buI'm afraid I will have no time on Sunday, I hava previous obligation." "Pity," said the deputdirector, and turned to the telephone conversa

tion that had just been connected. It was not short conversation, but K., remained standinconfused by the instrument all the time it wagoing on. It was only when the deputy directo

hung up that he was shocked into awarenesand said, in order to partially excuse his standing there for no reason, "I've just received telephone call, there's somewhere I need to gobut they forgot to tell me what time." "As

them then," said the deputy director. "It's nothat important," said K., although in that wahis earlier excuse, already weak enough, wamade even weaker. As he went, the deputdirector continued to speak about other thing



K. forced himself to answer, but his thoughwere mainly about that Sunday, how it woulbe best to get there for nine o'clock in the morn

ing as that was the time that courts always stawork on weekdays.

The weather was dull on Sunday. K. was vertired, as he had stayed out drinking until late i

the night celebrating with some of the regularand he had almost overslept. He dressed huriedly, without the time to think and assembthe various plans he had worked out during thweek. With no breakfast, he rushed to the suburb he had been told about. Oddly enoughalthough he had little time to look around himhe came across the three bank officials involvein his case, Rabensteiner, Kullich and Kamine

The first two were travelling in a tram thwent across K.'s route, but Kaminer sat on thterrace of a café and leant curiously over thwall as K. came over. All of them seemed to blooking at him, surprised at seeing their supe



rior running; it was a kind of pride that madK. want to go on foot, this was his affair and thidea of any help from strangers, howeve

slight, was repulsive to him, he also wanted tavoid asking for anyone's help because thawould initiate them into the affair even if onlslightly. And after all, he had no wish at all thumiliate himself before the committee by be

ing too punctual. Anyway, now he was running so that he would get there by nine o'clocif at all possible, even though he had no appointment for this time.

He had thought that he would recognise thbuilding from a distance by some kind of signwithout knowing exactly what the sign woullook like, or from some particular kind of activ

ity outside the entrance. K. had been told thathe building was in Juliusstrasse, but when hstood at the street's entrance it consisted oeach side of almost nothing but monotonougrey constructions, tall blocks of flats occupie



by poor people. Now, on a Sunday morninmost of the windows were occupied, men itheir shirtsleeves leant out smoking, or care

fully and gently held small children on the sillOther windows were piled up with beddinabove which the dishevelled head of a womawould briefly appear. People called out to eacother across the street, one of the calls pro

voked a loud laugh about K. himself. It was long street, and spaced evenly along it wersmall shops below street level, selling varioukinds of foodstuffs, which you reached by go

ing down a few steps. Women went in and ouof them or stood chatting on the steps. A fruimonger, taking his goods up to the windowwas just as inattentive as K. and nearly knockehim down with his cart. Just then, a gramo

phone, which in better parts of town woulhave been seen as worn out, began to plasome murderous tune.



K. went further into the street, slowly, as if hhad plenty of time now, or as if the examininmagistrate were looking at him from one of th

windows and therefore knew that K. had founhis way there. It was shortly after nine. Thbuilding was quite far down the street, it covered so much area it was almost extraordinaryand the gateway in particular was tall and long

It was clearly intended for delivery wagonbelonging to the various warehouses all rounthe yard which were now locked up and caried the names of companies some of which K

knew from his work at the bank. In contrawith his usual habits, he remained standing while at the entrance to the yard taking in athese external details. Near him, there was bare-footed man sitting on a crate and readin

a newspaper. There were two lads swinging oa hand cart. In front of a pump stood a weakyoung girl in a bedjacket who, as the wateflowed into her can, looked at K. There was piece of rope stretched between two window



in a corner of the yard, with some washinhanging on it to dry. A man stood below it caling out instructions to direct the work bein

done.

K. went over to the stairway to get to the roomwhere the hearing was to take place, but thestood still again as besides these steps he coul

see three other stairway entrances, and theralso seemed to be a small passageway at thend of the yard leading into a second yard. irritated him that he had not been given morprecise directions to the room, it meant thewere either being especially neglectful withim or especially indifferent, and he decided tmake that clear to them very loudly and verunambiguously. In the end he decided to clim

up the stairs, his thoughts playing on something that he remembered the policeman, Wilem, saying to him; that the court is attracted bthe guilt, from which it followed that the cour



room must be on the stairway that K. selecteby chance.

As he went up he disturbed a large group ochildren playing on the stairs who looked him as he stepped through their rows. "Nextime I come here," he said to himself, "I mueither bring sweets with me to make them lik

me or a stick to hit them with." Just before hreached the first landing he even had to wait little while until a ball had finished its movement, two small lads with sly faces like grownup scoundrels held him by his trouser-legs until it had; if he were to shake them off he woulhave to hurt them, and he was afraid of whanoise they would make by shouting.

On the first floor, his search began for real. Hstill felt unable to ask for the investigatincommittee, and so he invented a joiner calleLanz - that name occurred to him because thcaptain, Mrs. Grubach's nephew, was calle

Lanz - so that he could ask at every flat whe





the investigating committee was not to bfound there, and so his task was at an end. Thre were many who thought it must be very im

portant for K. to find Lanz the joiner anthought long about it, naming a joiner who wanot called Lanz or giving a name that had somvague similarity with Lanz, or they askeneighbours or accompanied K. to a door a lon

way away where they thought someone of thsort might live in the back part of the buildinor where someone would be who could advisK. better than they could themselves. K. even

tually had to give up asking if he did not wanto be led all round from floor to floor in thway. He regretted his initial plan, which had afirst seemed so practical to him. As he reachethe fifth floor, he decided to give up the search

took his leave of a friendly, young worker whwanted to lead him on still further and wendown the stairs. But then the thought of howmuch time he was wasting made him cross, hwent back again and knocked at the first doo



on the fifth floor. The first thing he saw in thsmall room was a large clock on the wall whicalready showed ten o'clock. "Is there a joine

called Lanz who lives here?" he asked. "Padon?" said a young woman with black, shinineyes who was, at that moment, washing chidren's underclothes in a bucket. She pointeher wet hand towards the open door of the ad

joining room.

K. thought he had stepped into a meeting. medium sized, two windowed room was fillewith the most diverse crowd of people - nobody paid any attention to the person who hajust entered. Close under its ceiling it was surounded by a gallery which was also fully ocupied and where the people could only stan

bent down with their heads and their backtouching the ceiling. K., who found the air tostuffy, stepped out again and said to the younwoman, who had probably misunderstoowhat he had said, "I asked for a joiner, someon



by the name of Lanz." "Yes," said the woman"please go on in." K. would probably not havfollowed her if the woman had not gone up t

him, taken hold of the door handle and said"I'll have to close the door after you, no-one elswill be allowed in." "Very sensible," said K"but it's too full already." But then he went bacin anyway. He passed through between tw

men who were talking beside the door - one othem held both hands far out in front of himsemaking the movements of counting out moneythe other looked him closely in the eyes - an

someone took him by the hand. It was a smalred-faced youth. "Come in, come in," he said. Klet himself be led by him, and it turned out thathere was - surprisingly in a densely packecrowd of people moving to and fro - a narrow

passage which may have been the division between two factions; this idea was reinforced bthe fact that in the first few rows to the left anthe right of him there was hardly any face looking in his direction, he saw nothing but th



backs of people directing their speech and themovements only towards members of theown side. Most of them were dressed in black

in old, long, formal frock coats that hung dowloosely around them. These clothes were thonly thing that puzzled K., as he would othewise have taken the whole assembly for a locapolitical meeting.

At the other end of the hall where K. had beeled there was a little table set at an angle on very low podium which was as overcrowdeas everywhere else, and behind the table, neathe edge of the podium, sat a small, fat, wheezing man who was talking with someone behinhim. This second man was standing with hlegs crossed and his elbows on the backrest o

the chair, provoking much laughter. From timto time he threw his arm in the air as if doing caricature of someone. The youth who waleading K. had some difficulty in reporting tthe man. He had already tried twice to tell him



something, standing on tiptoe, but withougetting the man's attention as he sat therabove him. It was only when one of the peop

up on the podium drew his attention to thyouth that the man turned to him and leandown to hear what it was he quietly said. Thehe pulled out his watch and quickly lookeover at K. "You should have been here one hou

and five minutes ago," he said. K. was going tgive him a reply but had no time to do so, ahardly had the man spoken than a general mutering arose all over the right hand side of th

hall. "You should have been here one hour anfive minutes ago," the man now repeated, raiing his voice this time, and quickly lookeround the hall beneath him. The muttering alsbecame immediately louder and, as the ma

said nothing more, died away only graduallyNow the hall was much quieter than when Khad entered. Only the people up in the gallerhad not stopped passing remarks. As far acould be distinguished, up in the half-darknes



dust and haze, they seemed to be less wedressed than those below. Many of them habrought pillows that they had put betwee

their heads and the ceiling so that they woulnot hurt themselves pressed against it.

K. had decided he would do more watchinthan talking, so he did not defend himself fo

supposedly having come late, and simply said"Well maybe I have arrived late, I'm here nowThere followed loud applause, once more fromthe right hand side of the hall. Easy people tget on your side, thought K., and was bothereonly by the quiet from the left hand side whicwas directly behind him and from which therwas applause from only a few individuals. Hwondered what he could say to get all of them

to support him together or, if that were nopossible, to at least get the support of the otherfor a while.

"Yes," said the man, "but I'm now no longe

under any obligation to hear your case" - ther





said the judge, thumbing through the book. Hturned to K. with the tone of someone whknows his facts and said, "you are a house pain

ter?" "No," said K., "I am the chief clerk in large bank." This reply was followed by laughter among the right hand faction down in thhall, it was so hearty that K. couldn't stop himself joining in with it. The people supporte

themselves with their hands on their knees anshook as if suffering a serious attack of coughing. Even some of those in the gallery werlaughing. The judge had become quite cross bu

seemed to have no power over those below himin the hall, he tried to reduce what harm habeen done in the gallery and jumped up threaening them, his eyebrows, until then hardlremarkable, pushed themselves up and becam

big, black and bushy over his eyes.

The left hand side of the hall was still quiethough, the people stood there in rows wittheir faces looking towards the podium listen



ing to what was being said there, they observethe noise from the other side of the hall witthe same quietness and even allowed som

individuals from their own ranks, here anthere, to go forward into the other faction. Thpeople in the left faction were not only fewer inumber than the right but probably were nmore important than them, although their be

haviour was calmer and that made it seem likthey were. When K. now began to speak he waconvinced he was doing it in the same way athem.

"Your question, My Lord, as to whether I am house painter - in fact even more than that, yodid not ask at all but merely imposed it on meis symptomatic of the whole way these pro

ceedings against me are being carried out. Pehaps you will object that there are no proceedings against me. You will be quite right, athere are proceedings only if I acknowledgthat there are. But, for the moment, I do a



knowledge it, out of pity for yourselves to large extent. It's impossible not to observe athis business without feeling pity. I don't sa

things are being done without due care but would like to make it clear that it is I who makthe acknowledgement."

K. stopped speaking and looked down into th

hall. He had spoken sharply, more sharply thahe had intended, but he had been quite right. should have been rewarded with some applause here and there but everything was quiethey were all clearly waiting for what woulfollow, perhaps the quietness was laying thground for an outbreak of activity that woulbring this whole affair to an end. It was somewhat disturbing that just then the door at th

end of the hall opened, the young washewoman, who seemed to have finished hework, came in and, despite all her caution, atracted the attention of some of the people thre. It was only the judge who gave K. any dire





the notebook fall down onto the desk. "You caread in your book as much as you like, sir,really don't have anything in this charge boo

to be afraid of, even though I don't have accesto it as I wouldn't want it in my hand, I caonly touch it with two fingers." The judggrabbed the notebook from where it had falleon the desk - which could only have been

sign of his deep humiliation, or at least that how it must have been perceived - tried to tidit up a little, and held it once more in front ohimself in order to read from it.

The people in the front row looked up at himshowing such tension on their faces that hlooked back down at them for some time. Every one of them was an old man, some of them

with white beards. Could they perhaps be thcrucial group who could turn the whole assembly one way or the other? They had sunk intostate of motionlessness while K. gave his oration, and it had not been possible to raise them



from this passivity even when the judge wabeing humiliated. "What has happened to mecontinued K., with less of the vigour he ha

had earlier, he continually scanned the faces ithe first row, and this gave his address a somewhat nervous and distracted characte"what has happened to me is not just an isolated case. If it were it would not be of muc

importance as it's not of much importance tme, but it is a symptom of proceedings whicare carried out against many. It's on behalf othem that I stand here now, not for myse

alone."

Without having intended it, he had raised hvoice. Somewhere in the hall, someone raisehis hands and applauded him shouting, "Bravo

Why not then? Bravo! Again I say, Bravo!" Some of the men in the first row groped around itheir beards, none of them looked round to sewho was shouting. Not even K. thought him oany importance but it did raise his spirits; he n



longer thought it at all necessary that all of those in the hall should applaud him, it waenough if the majority of them began to thin

about the matter and if only one of them, nowand then, was persuaded.

"I'm not trying to be a successful orator," saiK. after this thought, "that's probably more tha

I'm capable of anyway. I'm sure the examininjudge can speak far better than I can, it is paof his job after all. All that I want is a publdiscussion of a public wrong. Listen: ten dayago I was placed under arrest, the arrest itself something I laugh about but that's beside thpoint. They came for me in the morning whenwas still in bed. Maybe the order had been gven to arrest some house painter - that seem

possible after what the judge has said - somone who is as innocent as I am, but it was mthey chose. There were two police thugs occupying the next room. They could not havtaken better precautions if I had been a dange



ous robber. And these policemen were unprincipled riff-raff, they talked at me till I was sicof it, they wanted bribes, they wanted to tric

me into giving them my clothes, they wantemoney, supposedly so that they could bring mmy breakfast after they had blatantly eaten mown breakfast in front of my eyes. And evethat was not enough. I was led in front of th

supervisor in another room. This was the roomof a lady who I have a lot of respect for, andwas forced to look on while the supervisor anthe policemen made quite a mess of this room

because of me, although not through any fauof mine. It was not easy to stay calm, but I managed to do so and was completely calm wheI asked the supervisor why it was that I waunder arrest. If he were here he would have t

confirm what I say. I can see him now, sittinon the chair belonging to that lady I mentione- a picture of dull-witted arrogance. What dyou think he answered? What he told me, gentlemen, was basically nothing at all; perhaps h



really did know nothing, he had placed munder arrest and was satisfied. In fact he hadone more than that and brought three junio

employees from the bank where I work into thlady's room; they had made themselves businterfering with some photographs that belonged to the lady and causing a mess. Therwas, of course, another reason for bringin

these employees; they, just like my landladand her maid, were expected to spread thnews of my arrest and damage my public reputation and in particular to remove me from m

position at the bank. Well they didn't succeein any of that, not in the slightest, even mlandlady, who is quite a simple person - andwill give you here her name in full respect, hename is Mrs. Grubach - even Mrs. Grubach wa

understanding enough to see that an arrest likthis has no more significance than an attaccarried out on the street by some youths whare not kept under proper control. I repeat, thwhole affair has caused me nothing but un



pleasantness and temporary irritation, bucould it not also have had some far worse consequences?"

K. broke off here and looked at the judge, whsaid nothing. As he did so he thought he sawthe judge use a movement of his eyes to give sign to someone in the crowd. K. smiled an

said, "And now the judge, right next to me, giving a secret sign to someone among youThere seems to be someone among you who taking directions from above. I don't knowwhether the sign is meant to produce booing oapplause, but I'll resist trying to guess what imeaning is too soon. It really doesn't matter tme, and I give his lordship the judge my fuand public permission to stop giving secr

signs to his paid subordinate down there angive his orders in words instead; let him jusay "Boo now!," and then the next time "Clanow!".





"I have nearly finished what I have to say," saiK., and as there was no bell available he structhe desk with his fist in a way that startled th

judge and his advisor and made them look ufrom each other. "None of this concerns mand I am therefore able to make a calm assesment of it, and, assuming that this so-callecourt is of any real importance, it will be ver

much to your advantage to listen to what have to say. If you want to discuss what I sayplease don't bother to write it down until lateon, I don't have any time to waste and I'll soo

be leaving."

There was immediate silence, which showehow well K. was in control of the crowd. Therwere no shouts among them as there had bee

at the start, no-one even applauded, but if theweren't already persuaded they seemed verclose to it.

K was pleased at the tension among all the peo

ple there as they listened to him, a rustling ros



from the silence which was more invigoratinthan the most ecstatic applause could havbeen. "There is no doubt," he said quietly, "tha

there is some enormous organisation determining what is said by this court. In my case thincludes my arrest and the examination takinplace here today, an organisation that employpolicemen who can be bribed, oafish superv

sors and judges of whom nothing better can bsaid than that they are not as arrogant as somothers. This organisation even maintains high-level judiciary along with its train of coun

tless servants, scribes, policemen and all thother assistance that it needs, perhaps eveexecutioners and torturers - I'm not afraid ousing those words. And what, gentlemen, is thpurpose of this enormous organisation? I

purpose is to arrest innocent people and wagpointless prosecutions against them which, ain my case, lead to no result. How are we tavoid those in office becoming deeply corrupwhen everything is devoid of meaning? That





her fault or not. K. could only see that a mahad pulled her into a corner by the door anwas pressing himself against her. But it was no

her who was screaming, but the man, he haopened his mouth wide and looked up at thceiling. A small circle had formed around thtwo of them, the visitors near him in the gallerseemed delighted that the serious tone K. ha

introduced into the gathering had been diturbed in this way. K.'s first thought was to ruover there, and he also thought that everyonwould want to bring things back into orde

there or at least to make the pair leave throom, but the first row of people in front of himstayed were they were, no-one moved and noone let K. through. On the contrary, they stooin his way, old men held out their arms in fron

of him and a hand from somewhere - he dinot have the time to turn round - took hold ohis collar. K., by this time, had forgotten abouthe pair, it seemed to him that his freedom wabeing limited as if his arrest was being take



seriously, and, without any thought for whahe was doing, he jumped down from the podium. Now he stood face to face with th

crowd. Had he judged the people properlyHad he put too much faith in the effect of hspeech? Had they been putting up a pretencall the time he had been speaking, and now thahe come to the end and to what must follow

were they tired of pretending? What faces thewere, all around him! Dark, little eyes flickerehere and there, cheeks drooped down like odrunken men, their long beards were thin an

stiff, if they took hold of them it was more likthey were making their hands into claws, not aif they were taking hold of their own beardBut underneath those beards - and this was threal discovery made by K. - there were badge

of various sizes and colours shining on the colars of their coats. As far as he could see, everone of them was wearing one of these badgeAll of them belonged to the same group, evethough they seemed to be divided to the righ



and the left of him, and when he suddenly tuned round he saw the same badge on the collaof the examining judge who calmly looke

down at him with his hands in his lap. "Socalled out K, throwing his arms in the air as this sudden realisation needed more room, "aof you are working for this organisation, I senow that you are all the very bunch of chea

and liars I've just been speaking about, you'vall pressed yourselves in here in order to listein and snoop on me, you gave the impressioof having formed into factions, one of you eve

applauded me to test me out, and you wanteto learn how to trap an innocent man! Well,hope you haven't come here for nothing, I hopyou've either had some fun from someone whexpected you to defend his innocence or else

let go of me or I'll hit you," shouted K. to a quvery old man who had pressed himself espcially close to him - "or else that you've actualllearned something. And so I wish you gooluck in your trade." He briskly took his h



from where it lay on the edge of the table andsurrounded by a silence caused perhaps by thcompleteness of their surprise, pushed his wa

to the exit. However, the examining judgseems to have moved even more quickly thaK., as he was waiting for him at the doorway"One moment," he said. K. stood where he wabut looked at the door with his hand already o

its handle rather than at the judge. "I merelwanted to draw your attention," said the judg"to something you seem not yet to be aware otoday, you have robbed yourself of the advan

tages that a hearing of this sort always gives tsomeone who is under arrest." K. laughed towards the door. "You bunch of louts," he called"you can keep all your hearings as a presenfrom me," then opened the door and hurrie

down the steps. Behind him, the noise of thassembly rose as it became lively once morand probably began to discuss these events as making a scientific study of them.



Chapter Three In the empty Courtroom The Student - The Offices

Every day over the following week, K. expecteanother summons to arrive, he could not believe that his rejection of any more hearinghad been taken literally, and when the expecte

summons really had not come by Saturdaevening he took it to mean that he was expected, without being told, to appear at thsame place at the same time. So on Sunday, h

set out once more in the same direction, goinwithout hesitation up the steps and through thcorridors; some of the people remembered himand greeted him from their doorways, but hno longer needed to ask anyone the way an

soon arrived at the right door. It was opened asoon as he knocked and, paying no attention tthe woman he had seen last time who wastanding at the doorway, he was about to g

straight into the adjoining room when she sai



to him "There's no session today". "What dyou mean; no session?" he asked, unable tbelieve it. But the woman persuaded him b

opening the door to the next room. It was indeed empty, and looked even more dismempty than it had the previous Sunday. On thpodium stood the table exactly as it had beebefore with a few books laying on it. "Can

have a look at those books?" asked K., not because he was especially curious but so that hwould not have come for nothing. "No," saithe woman as she re-closed the door, "that's no

allowed. Those books belong to the examininjudge." "I see," said K., and nodded, "thosbooks must be law books, and that's how thcourt does things, not only to try people whare innocent but even to try them without le

ting them know what's going on." "I expeyou're right," said the woman, who had nounderstood exactly what he meant. "I'd bettego away again, then," said K. "Should I give message to the examining judge?" asked th



woman. "Do you know him, then?" asked K"Of course I know him," said the woman, "mhusband is the court usher." It was only now

that K. noticed that the room, which before haheld nothing but a wash-tub, had been fitteout as a living room. The woman saw how suprised he was and said, "Yes, we're allowed tlive here as we like, only we have to clear th

room out when the court's in session. Therelots of disadvantages to my husband's job." "Itnot so much the room that surprises me," saiK., looking at her crossly, "it's your being ma

ried that shocks me." "Are you thinking abouwhat happened last time the court was in sesion, when I disturbed what you were sayingasked the woman. "Of course," said K., "it's ithe past now and I've nearly forgotten about i

but at the time it made me furious. And nowyou tell me yourself that you are a marriewoman." "It wasn't any disadvantage for you thave your speech interrupted. The way thetalked about you after you'd gone was reall



bad." "That could well be," said K., turninaway, "but it does not excuse you." "There's noone I know who'd hold it against me," said th

woman. "Him, who put his arms around mhe's been chasing after me for a long time.might not be very attractive for most peoplbut I am for him. I've got no protection fromhim, even my husband has had to get used t

it; if he wants to keep his job he's got to put uwith it as that man's a student and he'll almocertainly be very powerful later on. He's alwayafter me, he'd only just left when you arrived

"That fits in with everything else," said K., "I'mnot surprised." "Do you want to make things bit better here?" the woman asked slowlywatching him as if she were saying somethinthat could be as dangerous for K. as for hersel

"That's what I thought when I heard you speakI really liked what you said. Mind you, I onlheard part of it, I missed the beginning of it anat the end I was lying on the floor with the student - it's so horrible here," she said after



pause, and took hold of K.'s hand. "Do you blieve you really will be able to make things beter?" K. smiled and twisted his hand round

little in her soft hands. "It's really not my job tmake things better here, as you put it," he said"and if you said that to the examining judge hwould laugh at you or punish you for it. I reallwould not have become involved in this matte

if I could have helped it, and I would have lono sleep worrying about how this court needto be made better. But because I'm told thathave been arrested - and I am under arrest -

forces me to take some action, and to do so fomy own sake. However, if I can be of some sevice to you in the process I will, of course, bglad to do so. And I will be glad to do so noonly for the sake of charity but also becaus

you can be of some help to me." "How couldhelp you, then?" said the woman. "You couldfor example, show me the books on the tabthere." "Yes, certainly," the woman cried, anpulled K. along behind her as she rushed t



them. The books were old and well worn, thcover of one of them had nearly brokethrough in its middle, and it was held togethe

with a few threads. "Everything is so dirthere," said K., shaking his head, and before hcould pick the books up the woman wipesome of the dust off with her apron. K. toohold of the book that lay on top and threw

open, an indecent picture appeared. A man ana woman sat naked on a sofa, the base intent owhoever drew it was easy to see but he habeen so grossly lacking in skill that all that any

one could really make out were the man anthe woman who dominated the picture wittheir bodies, sitting in overly upright posturethat created a false perspective and made difficult for them to approach each other. K

didn't thumb through that book any more, bujust threw open the next one at its title page, was a novel with the title, What Grete Sufferefrom her Husband, Hans. "So this is the sort olaw book they study here," said K., "this is th



sort of person sitting in judgement over me." can help you," said the woman, "would yolike me to?" "Could you really do that withou

placing yourself in danger? You did say earlieon that your husband is wholly dependent ohis superiors." "I still want to help you," saithe woman, "come over here, we've got to talabout it. Don't say any more about what dange

I'm in, I only fear danger where I want to feait. Come over here." She pointed to the podiumand invited him to sit down on the step wither. "You've got lovely dark eyes," she said a

ter they had sat down, looking up into K.'s fac"people say I've got nice eyes too, but yours armuch nicer. It was the first thing I noticewhen you first came here. That's even why came in here, into the assembly room, afte

wards, I'd never normally do that, I'm not really even allowed to." So that's what all this about, thought K., she's offering herself to mshe's as degenerate as everything else arounhere, she's had enough of the court official



which is understandable I suppose, and so shapproaches any stranger and makes complments about his eyes. With that, K. stood up i

silence as if he had spoken his thoughts ouloud and thus explained his action to the woman. "I don't think you can be of any assistancto me," he said, "to be of any real assistance yowould need to be in contact with high official

But I'm sure you only know the lower employees, and there are crowds of them milling abouhere. I'm sure you're very familiar with themand could achieve a great deal through them

I've no doubt of that, but the most that could bdone through them would have no bearing aall on the final outcome of the trial. You, on thother hand, would lose some of your friends aa result, and I have no wish of that. Carry o

with these people in the same way as you havbeen, as it does seem to me to be somethinyou cannot do without. I have no regrets isaying this as, in return for your compliment tme, I also find you rather attractive, especiall





nothing for you to worry about when you consider that there's nothing hanging on the oucome of this trial, and that, whatever the ve

dict, I will just laugh at it. And that's even presupposing it ever even reaches any conclusionwhich I very much doubt. I think it's mucmore likely that the court officials will be tolazy, too forgetful, or even to fearful ever t

continue with these proceedings and that thewill soon be abandoned if they haven't beeabandoned already. It's even possible that thewill pretend to be carrying on with the trial i

the hope of receiving a large bribe, althoughcan tell you now that that will be quite in vaias I pay bribes to no-one. Perhaps one favouyou could do me would be to tell the examining judge, or anyone else who likes to sprea

important news, that I will never be induced tpay any sort of bribe through any stratagem otheirs - and I'm sure they have many stratagems at their disposal. There is no prospect othat, you can tell them that quite openly. An



what's more, I expect they have already noticethemselves, or even if they haven't, this affair really not so important to me as they think

Those gentlemen would only save some worfor themselves, or at least some unpleasantnesfor me, which, however, I am glad to endure ifknow that each piece of unpleasantness for mis a blow against them. And I will make quit

sure it is a blow against them. Do you actuallknow the judge?" "Course I do," said the woman, "he was the first one I thought of whenoffered to help you. I didn't know he's only

minor official, but if you say so it must be truMind you, I still think the report he gives to hsuperiors must have some influence. And hwrites so many reports. You say these officiaare lazy, but they're certainly not all lazy, esp

cially this examining judge, he writes ever suca lot. Last Sunday, for instance, that sessiowent on till the evening. Everyone had gonbut the examining judge, he stayed in the hall,had to bring him a lamp in, all I had was a litt



kitchen lamp but he was very satisfied with and started to write straight away. Meantimmy husband arrived, he always has the day o

on Sundays, we got the furniture back in angot our room sorted out and then a few of thneighbours came, we sat and talked for a bit ba candle, in short, we forgot all about the examining judge and went to bed. All of a sudden i

the night, it must have been quite late in thnight, I wakes up, next to the bed, there's thexamining judge shading the lamp with hhand so that there's no light from it falls on m

husband, he didn't need to be as careful as thathe way my husband sleeps the light wouldnhave woken him up anyway. I was quite shoked and nearly screamed, but the judge wavery friendly, warned me I should be carefu

he whispered to me he's been writing all thtime, and now he's brought me the lamp backand he'll never forget how I looked when hfound me there asleep. What I mean, with athis, I just wanted to tell you how the examin



ing judge really does write lots of reports, espcially about you as questioning you was defnitely one of the main things on the agenda tha

Sunday. If he writes reports as long as that themust be of some importance. And besides athat, you can see from what happened that thexamining judge is after me, and it's right nowwhen he's first begun to notice me, that I ca

have a lot of influence on him. And I've goother proof I mean a lot to him, too. Yesterdayhe sent that student to me, the one he realltrusts and who he works with, he sent him wit

a present for me, silk stockings. He said it wabecause I clear up in the courtroom but thatonly a pretence, that job's no more than whaI'm supposed to do, it's what my husband gepaid for. Nice stockings, they are, look," - sh

stretched out her leg, drew her skirt up to heknee and looked, herself, at the stocking - "theare nice stockings, but they're too good for mreally."



She suddenly interrupted herself and lay hehand on K.'s as if she wanted to calm himdown, and whispered, "Be quiet, Berthold

watching us." K. slowly looked up. In thdoorway to the courtroom stood a young manhe was short, his legs were not quite straighand he continually moved his finger round inshort, thin, red beard with which he hoped t

make himself look dignified. K. looked at himwith some curiosity, he was the first student hhad ever met of the unfamiliar discipline ojurisprudence, face to face at least, a man wh

would even most likely attain high office onday. The student, in contrast, seemed to take nnotice of K. at all, he merely withdrew his finger from his beard long enough to beckon tthe woman and went over to the window, th

woman leant over to K. and whispered, "Donbe cross with me, please don't, and please donthink ill of me either, I've got to go to him nowto this horrible man, just look at his bent legBut I'll come straight back and then I'll go wit





woman from him and have her for himselMaybe then, after much hard work writing dihonest reports about K., the judge would go t

the woman's bed late one night and find empty. And it would be empty because shbelonged to K., because this woman at the window, this lush, supple, warm body in its sombre clothes of rough, heavy material belonge

to him, totally to him and to him alone. Once hhad settled his thoughts towards the woman ithis way, he began to find the quiet conversation at the window was taking too long, h

rapped on the podium with his knuckles, anthen even with his fist. The student briefly looked away from the woman to glance at K. ovehis shoulder but did allow himself to be diturbed, in fact he even pressed himself close t

the woman and put his arms around her. Shdropped her head down low as if listening thim carefully, as she did so he kissed her righon the neck, hardly even interrupting what hwas saying. K. saw this as confirmation of th



tyranny the student held over the woman anwhich she had already complained about, hstood up and walked up and down the room

Glancing sideways at the student, he wonderewhat would be the quickest possible way to grid of him, and so it was not unwelcome to himwhen the student, clearly disturbed by K.'s toing and fro-ing which K. had now develope

into a stamping up and down, said to him"You don't have to stay here, you know, if youre getting impatient. You could have gone ealier, no-one would have missed you. In fact yo

should have gone, you should have left aquickly as possible as soon as I got here." Thcomment could have caused all possible rage tbreak out between them, but K. also bore imind that this was a prospective court officia

speaking to a disfavoured defendant, and hmight well have been taking pride in speakinin this way. K. remained standing quite close thim and said with a smile, "You're quite right,am impatient, but the easiest way to settle th



impatience would be if you left us. On the othehand, if you've come here to study - you are student, I hear - I'll be quite happy to leave th

room to you and go away with the woman. I'msure you'll still have a lot of study to do beforyou're made into a judge. It's true that I'm stinot all that familiar with your branch of juriprudence but I take it it involves a lot mor

than speaking roughly - and I see you have nshame in doing that extremely well." "Hshouldn't have been allowed to move about sfreely," said the student, as if he wanted to giv

the woman an explanation for K.'s insults, "thawas a mistake. I've told the examining judge sHe should at least have been detained in hroom between hearings. Sometimes it's imposible to understand what the judge thinks he

doing." "You're wasting your breath," said Kthen he reached his hand out towards the woman and said, "come with me." "So that's itsaid the student, "oh no, you're not going to geher," and with a strength you would not hav



expected from him, he glanced tenderly at helifted her up on one arm and, his back bent under the weight, ran with her to the door. In th

way he showed, unmistakeably, that he was tsome extent afraid of K., but he nonethelesdared to provoke him still further by strokinand squeezing the woman's arm with his frehand. K. ran the few steps up to him, but whe

he had reached him and was about to take holof him and, if necessary, throttle him, the woman said, "It's no good, it's the examining judgwho's sent for me, I daren't go with you, th

little bastard…" and here she ran her hand ovethe student's face, "this little bastard won't leme." "And you don't want to be set free!" shouted K., laying his hand on the student's shouder, who then snapped at it with his teeth

"No!" shouted the woman, pushing K. awawith both hands, "no, no don't do that, whd'you think you're doing!? That'd be the end ome. Let go of him, please just let go of him. Heonly carrying out the judge's orders, he's carry





take the student along to Elsa with him if evehe should get the opportunity.

K. was curious to see where the woman woulbe taken and he hurried over to the door, thstudent was not likely to carry her through thstreets on his arm. It turned out that the jouney was far shorter. Directly opposite the fla

there was a narrow flight of wooden stepwhich probably led up to the attic, they turneas they went so that it was not possible to sewhere they ended. The student carried thwoman up these steps, and after the exertionof running with her he was soon groaning anmoving very slowly. The woman waved dowat K. and by raising and lowering her shouldeshe tried to show that she was an innocent pa

ty in this abduction, although the gesture dinot show a lot of regret. K. watched her without expression like a stranger, he wanted tshow neither that he was disappointed nor thahe would easily get over his disappointment.



The two of them had disappeared, but K. remained standing in the doorway. He had taccept that the woman had not only cheate

him but that she had also lied to him when shsaid she was being taken to the examining judge. The examining judge certainly wouldn't bsitting and waiting in the attic. The woodestairs would explain nothing to him howeve

long he stared at them. Then K. noticed a smapiece of paper next to them, went across to and read, in a childish and unpractised hand"Entrance to the Court Offices". Were the cou

offices here, in the attic of this tenement, thenIf that was how they were accommodated it dinot attract much respect, and it was some comfort for the accused to realise how little monethis court had at its disposal if it had to locat

its offices in a place where the tenants of thbuilding, who were themselves among the poorest of people, would throw their unneedejunk. On the other hand, it was possible thathe officials had enough money but that the



squandered it on themselves rather than use for the court's purposes. Going by K.'s experence of them so far, that even seemed probabl

except that if the court were allowed to decain that way it would not just humiliate the accused but also give him more encouragementhan if the court were simply in a state of poverty. K. also now understood that the court wa

ashamed to summon those it accused to thattic of this building for the initial hearing, anwhy it preferred to impose upon them in theown homes. What a position it was that K

found himself in, compared with the judge siting up in the attic! K., at the bank, had a bioffice with an ante-room, and had an enormouwindow through which he could look down athe activity in the square. It was true, though

that he had no secondary income from bribeand fraud, and he couldn't tell a servant tbring him a woman up to the office on his armK., however, was quite willing to do withousuch things, in this life at least. K. was still look



ing at the notice when a man came up thstairs, looked through the open door into thliving room where it was also possible to se

the courtroom, and finally asked K. whether hhad just seen a woman there. "You're the couusher, aren't you?" asked K. "That's right," saithe man, "oh, yes, you're defendant K., I recognise you now as well. Nice to see you here

And he offered K. his hand, which was far fromwhat K. had expected. And when K. said nothing, he added, "There's no court session planned for today, though." "I know that," said K. a

he looked at the usher's civilian coat whichbeside its ordinary buttons, displayed twgilded ones as the only sign of his office anseemed to have been taken from an old armofficer's coat. "I was speaking with your wife

little while ago. She is no longer here. The student has carried her off to the examininjudge." "Listen to this," said the usher, "they'ralways carrying her away from me. It's Sundatoday, and it's not part of my job to do an



work today, but they send me off with sommessage which isn't even necessary just to geme away from here. What they do is they sen

me off not too far away so that I can still hopto get back on time if I really hurry. So off I grunning as fast as I can, shout the messagthrough the crack in the door of the office I'vbeen sent to, so out of breath they'll hardly b

able to understand it, run back here again, buthe student's been even faster than I have - wehe's got less far to go, he's only got to run dowthe steps. If I wasn't so dependent on them I'

have squashed the student against the wahere a long time ago. Right here, next to thsign. I'm always dreaming of doing that. Juhere, just above the floor, that's where hecrushed onto the wall, his arms stretched ou

his fingers spread apart, his crooked legs twited round into a circle and blood squirted ouall around him. It's only ever been a dream sfar, though." "Is there nothing else you doasked K. with a smile. "Nothing that I know of



said the usher. "And it's going to get even wose now, up till now he's only been carrying heoff for himself, now he's started carrying her o

for the judge and all, just like I'd always said hwould." "Does your wife, then, not share somof the responsibility?" asked K. He had to forchimself as he asked this question, as he, too, feso jealous now. "Course she does," said the u

her, "it's more her fault than theirs. It was hewho attached herself to him. All he did, he juchases after any woman. There's five flats ithis block alone where he's been thrown ou

after working his way in there. And my wife the best looking woman in the whole buildingbut it's me who's not even allowed to defenhimself." "If that's how things are, then therenothing that can be done," said K. "Well wh

not?" asked the usher. "He's a coward that student, if he wants to lay a finger on my wife ayou'd have to do is give him such a good hiding he'd never dare do it again. But I'm not alowed to do that, and nobody else is going t



do me the favour as they're all afraid of his power. The only one who could do it is a man likyou." "What, how could I do it?" asked K. i

astonishment. "Well you're facing a chargaren't you," said the usher. "Yes, but that's athe more reason for me to be afraid. Even if hhas no influence on the outcome of the trial hprobably has some on the initial examination

"Yes, exactly," said the usher, as if K.'s view habeen just as correct as his own. "Only we donusually get any trials heard here with no hopat all." "I am not of the same opinion", said K

"although that ought not to prevent me fromdealing with the student if the opportunity arses." "I would be very grateful to you," said thusher of the court, somewhat formally, not relly seeming to believe that his highest wis

could be fulfilled. "Perhaps," continued K"perhaps there are some other officials of yourhere, perhaps all of them, who would deservthe same." "Oh yes, yes," said the usher, as this was a matter of course. Then he looked a



K. trustingly which, despite all his friendlineshe had not done until then, and added, "they'ralways rebelling." But the conversation seeme

to have become a little uncomfortable for himas he broke it off by saying, "now I have to rport to the office. Would you like to come witme?" "There's nothing for me to do there," saiK. "You'd be able to have a look at it. No-on

will take any notice of you." "Is it worth seeinthen?" asked K. hesitatingly, although he fevery keen to go with him. "Well," said the uher, "I thought you'd be interested in it." "A

right then," said K. finally, "I'll come with youAnd, quicker than the usher himself, he ran uthe steps.

At the entrance he nearly fell over, as behin

the door there was another step. "They donshow much concern for the public," he said"They don't show any concern at all," said thusher, "just look at the waiting room here." consisted of a long corridor from which rough



ly made doors led out to the separate deparments of the attic. There was no direct source olight but it was not entirely dark as many of th

departments, instead of solid walls, had juwooden bars reaching up to the ceiling to separate them from the corridor. The light made iway in through them, and it was also possibto see individual officials through them as the

sat writing at their desks or stood up at thwooden frameworks and watched the peopon the corridor through the gaps. There weronly a few people in the corridor, probably b

cause it was Sunday. They were not very impressive. They sat, equally spaced, on two rowof long wooden benches which had been placed along both sides of the corridor. All of themwere carelessly dressed although the expre

sions on their faces, their bearing, the style otheir beards and many details which were harto identify showed that they belonged to thupper classes. There were no coat hooks fothem to use, and so they had placed their ha



under the bench, each probably having folowed the example of the others. When thoswho were sitting nearest the door saw K. an

the usher of the court they stood up to grethem, and when the others saw that, they alsthought they had to greet them, so that as thtwo of them went by all the people there stooup. None of them stood properly upright, the

backs were bowed, their knees bent, they stoolike beggars on the street. K. waited for the uher, who was following just behind him. "Themust all be very dispirited," he said. "Yes," sai

the usher, "they are the accused, everyone yosee here has been accused." "Really!" said K"They're colleagues of mine then." And he tuned to the nearest one, a tall, thin man with hathat was nearly grey. "What is it you are wai

ing for here?" asked K., politely, but the mawas startled at being spoken to unexpectedlywhich was all the more pitiful to see becausthe man clearly had some experience of thworld and elsewhere would certainly hav



been able to show his superiority and woulnot have easily given up the advantage he haacquired. Here, though, he did not know wha

answer to give to such a simple question anlooked round at the others as if they were under some obligation to help him, and as if noone could expect any answer from him withouthis help. Then the usher of the court steppe

forward to him and, in order to calm him dowand raise his spirits, said, "The gentlemahere's only asking what it is you're waiting foYou can give him an answer." The voice of th

usher was probably familiar to him, and had better effect than K.'s. "I'm … I'm waiting …" hbegan, and then came to a halt. He had clearlchosen this beginning so that he could give precise answer to the question, but now h

didn't know how to continue. Some of the others waiting had come closer and stood rounthe group, the usher of the court said to them"Get out the way, keep the gangway free." Themoved back slightly, but not as far as wher



they had been sitting before. In the meantimthe man whom K. had first approached hapulled himself together and even answere

him with a smile. "A month ago I made somapplications for evidence to be heard in mcase, and I'm waiting for it to be settled." "Yocertainly seem to be going to a lot of effortsaid K. "Yes," said the man, "it is my affair afte

all." "Not everyone thinks the same way as yodo," said K. "I've been indicted as well butswear on my soul that I've neither submitteevidence nor done anything else of the sort. D

you really think that's necessary?" "I don't really know, exactly," said the man, once mortotally unsure of himself; he clearly thought Kwas joking with him and therefore probablthought it best to repeat his earlier answer i

order to avoid making any new mistakes. WitK. looking at him impatiently, he just said, "afar as I'm concerned, I've applied to have thevidence heard." "Perhaps you don't believI've been indicted?" asked K. "Oh, please, I ce



tainly do," said the man, stepping slightly tone side, but there was more anxiety in his answer than belief. "You don't believe me then?

asked K., and took hold of his arm, unconsciously prompted by the man's humble demeanour, and as if he wanted to force him tbelieve him. But he did not want to hurt thman and had only taken hold of him very ligh

tly. Nonetheless, the man cried out as if K. hagrasped him not with two fingers but with rehot tongs. Shouting in this ridiculous way fnally made K. tired of him, if he didn't believ

he was indicted then so much the better; maybhe even thought K. was a judge. And beforleaving, he held him a lot harder, shoved himback onto the bench and walked on. "Thesdefendants are so sensitive, most of them," sai

the usher of the court. Almost all of those whhad been waiting had now assembled arounthe man who, by now, had stopped shoutinand they seemed to be asking him lots of precise questions about the incident. K. was ap



proached by a security guard, identifiablmainly by his sword, of which the scabbarseemed to be made of aluminium. This greatl

surprised K., and he reached out for it with hhand. The guard had come because of thshouting and asked what had been happeningThe usher of the court said a few words to trand calm him down but the guard explaine

that he had to look into it himself, saluted, anhurried on, walking with very short stepprobably because of gout.

K. didn't concern himself long with the guaror these people, especially as he saw a turninoff the corridor, about half way along it on thright hand side, where there was no door tstop him going that way. He asked the ushe

whether that was the right way to go, the ushenodded, and that is the way that K. went. Thusher remained always one or two steps behinK, which he found irritating as in a place likthis it could give the impression that he wa



being driven along by someone who had arested him, so he frequently waited for thusher to catch up, but the usher always re

mained behind him. In order to put an end this discomfort, K. finally said, "Now that I'vseen what it looks like here, I'd like to go." "Yohaven't seen everything yet," said the usheingenuously. "I don't want to see everything

said K., who was also feeling very tired, "I wanto go, what is the way to the exit?" "You havengot lost, have you?" asked the usher in amazment, "you go down this way to the corne

then right down the corridor straight ahead afar as the door." "Come with me," said K"show me the way, I'll miss it, there are so many different ways here." "It's the only way theris," said the usher, who had now started t

sound quite reproachful, "I can't go back wityou again, I've got to hand in my report, anI've already lost a lot of time because of you ait is." "Come with me!" K. repeated, now somewhat sharper as if he had finally caught th



usher out in a lie. "Don't shout like that," whipered the usher, "there's offices all round uhere. If you don't want to go back by yourse

come on a bit further with me or else wait hertill I've sorted out my report, then I'll be glad tgo back with you again." "No, no," said K., will not wait and you must come with mnow." K. had still not looked round at anythin

at all in the room where he found himself, anit was only when one of the many woodedoors all around him opened that he noticed iA young woman, probably summoned by th

loudness of K.'s voice, entered and asked"What is it the gentleman wants?" In the darkness behind her there was also a man approaching. K. looked at the usher. He had, afteall, said that no-one would take any notice o

K., and now there were two people coming, only needed a few and everyone in the officwould become aware of him and asking foexplanations as to why he was there. The onlunderstandable and acceptable thing to sa





want to miss seeing. And in the doorway stoothe man whom K. had noticed in the background earlier, he held firmly on to the beam

above the low door swinging a little on the tipof his feet as if becoming impatient as he wached. But the young woman was the first trecognise that K.'s behaviour was caused by hfeeling slightly unwell, she brought a chair an

asked, "Would you not like to sit down?" K. sadown immediately and, in order to keep hplace better, put his elbows on the armrest"You're a little bit dizzy, aren't you?" she aske

him. Her face was now close in front of him, bore the severe expression that many younwomen have just when they're in the bloom otheir youth. "It's nothing for you to worrabout," she said, "that's nothing unusual her

almost everyone gets an attack like that the firtime they come here. This is your first time it? Yes, it's nothing unusual then. The suburns down on the roof and the hot wood makes the air so thick and heavy. It makes th



place rather unsuitable for offices, whateveother advantages it might offer. But the air almost impossible to breathe on days whe

there's a lot of business, and that's almost everday. And when you think that there's a lot owashing put out to dry here as well - and wcan't stop the tenants doing that - it's not suprising you started to feel unwell. But you g

used to the air alright in the end. When you'rhere for the second or third time you'll hardlnotice how oppressive the air is. Are you feeing any better now?" K. made no answer, he fe

too embarrassed at being put at the mercy othese people by his sudden weakness, anlearning the reason for feeling ill made him fenot better but a little worse. The girl noticed straight away, and to make the air fresher fo

K., she took a window pole that was leaninagainst the wall and pushed open a small hatcdirectly above K.'s head that led to the outsidBut so much soot fell in that the girl had to immediately close the hatch again and clean th



soot off K.'s hands with her handkerchief, as Kwas too tired to do that for himself. He woulhave liked just to sit quietly where he was unt

he had enough strength to leave, and the lesfuss people made about him the sooner thawould be. But then the girl said, "You can't stahere, we're in people's way here …" K. lookeat her as if to ask whose way they were imped

ing. "If you like, I can take you to the sicroom," and turning to the man in the doorwasaid, "please help me". The man immediatelcame over to them, but K. did not want to go t

the sick room, that was just what he wanted tavoid, being led further from place to place, thfurther he went the more difficult it must become. So he said, "I am able to walk now," anstood up, shaking after becoming used to si

ting so comfortably. But then he was unable tstay upright. "I can't manage it," he said shaking his head, and sat down again with a sighHe remembered the usher who, despite everything, would have been able to lead him out o



there but who seemed to have gone long before. K. looked out between the man and thyoung woman who were standing in front o

him but was unable to find the usher. "I thinksaid the man, who was elegantly dressed anwhose appearance was made especially impressive with a grey waistcoat that had twlong, sharply tailored points, "the gentleman

feeling unwell because of the atmosphere herso the best thing, and what he would most prefer, would be not to take him to the sick roombut get him out of the offices altogether

"That's right," exclaimed K., with such joy thahe nearly interrupted what the man was saying, "I'm sure that'll make me feel bettestraight away, I'm really not that weak, all need is a little support under my arms, I won

cause you much trouble, it's not such a lonway anyway, lead me to the door and then Isit on the stairs for a while and soon recover, aI don't suffer from attacks like this at all, I'msurprised at it myself. I also work in an offic



and I'm quite used to office air, but here seems to be too strong, you've said so youselves. So please, be so kind as to help me o

my way a little, I'm feeling dizzy, you see, anit'll make me ill if I stand up by myself." Anwith that he raised his shoulders to make easier for the two of them to take him by tharms.

The man, however, didn't follow this suggetion but just stood there with his hands in htrouser pockets and laughed out loud. "Theryou see," he said to the girl, "I was quite righThe gentleman is only unwell here, and not igeneral." The young woman smiled too, bulightly tapped the man's arm with the tips oher fingers as if he had allowed himself to

much fun with K. "So what do you thinkthen?" said the man, still laughing, "I really dwant to lead the gentleman out of here." "Thatalright, then," said the girl, briefly inclining hecharming head. "Don't worry too much abou



him laughing," said the girl to K., who had bcome unhappy once more and stared quietly ifront of himself as if needing no further expla

nation. "This gentleman - may I introducyou?" - (the man gave his permission with wave of the hand) - "so, this gentleman's job to give out information. He gives all the infomation they need to people who are waiting, a

our court and its offices are not very weknown among the public he gets asked for qute a lot. He has an answer for every questionyou can try him out if you feel like it. But that

not his only distinction, his other distinction his elegance of dress. We, that's to say all of uwho work in the offices here, we decided thathe information-giver would have to be elgantly dressed as he continually has to de

with the litigants and he's the first one themeet, so he needs to give a dignified first impression. The rest of us I'm afraid, as you casee just by looking at me, dress very badly anold-fashioned; and there's not much point i



spending much on clothes anyway, as whardly ever leave the offices, we even sleehere. But, as I said, we decided that the info

mation-giver would have to have nice clotheAs the management here is rather peculiar ithis respect, and they would get them for uwe had a collection - some of the litigants contributed too - and bought him these lovel

clothes and some others besides. So everythinwould be ready for him to give a good impresion, except that he spoils it again by laughinand frightening people." "That's how it is," sai

the man, mocking her, "but I don't understanwhy it is that you're explaining all our intimafacts to the gentleman, or rather why it is thayou're pressing them on him, as I'm sure henot all interested. Just look at him sitting ther

it's clear he's occupied with his own affairs." Kjust did not feel like contradicting him.. Thgirl's intention may have been good, perhapshe was under instructions to distract him or tgive him the chance to collect himself, but th



attempt had not worked. "I had to explain thim why you were laughing," said the girl. suppose it was insulting." "I think he woul

forgive even worse insults if I finally took himoutside." K. said nothing, did not even look uphe tolerated the two of them negotiating ovehim like an object, that was even what suitehim best. But suddenly he felt the information

giver's hand on one arm and the younwoman's hand on the other. "Up you get thenweakling," said the information-giver. "Thanyou both very much," said K., pleasantly su

prised, as he slowly rose and personally guidethese unfamiliar hands to the places where hmost needed support. As they approached thcorridor, the girl said quietly into K.'s ear, must seem to think it's very important to show

the information-giver in a good light, but yoshouldn't doubt what I say, I just want to sathe truth. He isn't hard-hearted. It's not reallhis job to help litigants outside if they're unwebut he's doing it anyway, as you can see. I don



suppose any of us is hard-hearted, perhapwe'd all like to be helpful, but working for thcourt offices it's easy for us to give the impre

sion we are hard-hearted and don't want thelp anyone. It makes me quite sad." "Woulyou not like to sit down here a while?" askethe information-giver, there were already in thcorridor and just in front of the defendan

whom K. had spoken to earlier. K. felt almoashamed to be seen by him, earlier he hastood so upright in front of him and now hhad to be supported by two others, his hat wa

held up by the information-giver balanced ooutstretched fingers, his hair was dishevelleand hung down onto the sweat on his foreheadBut the defendant seemed to notice nothing owhat was going on and just stood there hum

bly, as if wanting to apologise to the information-giver for being there. The informationgiver looked past him. "I know," he said, "thmy case can't be settled today, not yet, but I'vcome in anyway, I thought, I thought I coul



wait here anyway, it's Sunday today, I've goplenty of time, and I'm not disturbing anyonhere." "There's no need to be so apologetic

said the information-giver, "it's very commendable for you to be so attentive. You are takinup space here when you don't need to but along as you don't get in my way I will do nothing to stop you following the progress of you

case as closely as you like. When one has seeso many people who shamefully neglect thecases one learns to show patience with peoplike you. Do sit down." "He's very good wit

the litigants," whispered the girl. K. noddedbut started to move off again when the infomation-giver repeated, "Would you not like tsit down here a while?" "No," said K., "I donwant to rest." He had said that as decisively a

he could, but in fact it would have done him lot of good to sit down. It was as if he were sufering sea-sickness. He felt as if he were on ship in a rough sea, as if the water were hittinagainst the wooden walls, a thundering from





one say, "First he says he wants to go, and theyou can tell him a hundred times that this is thway out and he doesn't move." K. becam

aware that he was standing in front of the waout, and that the young woman had opened thdoor. It seemed to him that all his strength returned to him at once, and to get a foretaste ofreedom he stepped straight on to one of th

stairs and took his leave there of his companions, who bowed to him. "Thank you vermuch," he repeated, shook their hands oncmore and did not let go until he thought he saw

that they found it hard to bear the comparatively fresh air from the stairway after being slong used to the air in the offices. They werhardly able to reply, and the young womamight even have fallen over if K. had not shu

the door extremely fast. K. then stood still for while, combed his hair with the help of a poket mirror, picked up his hat from the next sta- the information-giver must have thrown down there - and then he ran down the steps s





various ways but she always found a way tavoid it. He would come straight home fromthe office, remain in her room without the ligh

on, and sit on the sofa with nothing more tdistract him than keeping watch on the empthallway. If the maid went by and closed thdoor of the apparently empty room he woulget up after a while and open it again. He go

up an hour earlier than usual in the morning sthat he might perhaps find Miss Bürstner alonas she went to the office. But none of these eforts brought any success. Then he wrote her

letter, both to the office and the flat, attemptinonce more to justify his behaviour, offered tmake whatever amends he could, promisenever to cross whatever boundary she mighset him and begged merely to have the chanc

to speak to her some time, especially as he waunable to do anything with Mrs. Grubach ether until he had spoken with Miss Bürstner, hfinally informed her that the following Sundahe would stay in his room all day waiting for



sign from her that there was some hope of hrequest being fulfilled, or at least that shwould explain to him why she could not fulf

it even though he had promised to observwhatever stipulations she might make. Thletters were not returned, but there was no answer either. However, on the following Sundathere was a sign that seemed clear enough.

was still early when K. noticed, through thkeyhole, that there was an unusual level of ativity in the hallway which soon abated. AFrench teacher, although she was German an

called Montag, a pale and febrile girl with slight limp who had previously occupied room of her own, was moving into Miss Bürsner's room. She could be seen shuffling througthe hallway for several hours, there was alway

another piece of clothing or a blanket or a boothat she had forgotten and had to be fetchespecially and brought into the new home.



When Mrs. Grubach brought K. his breakfastever since the time when she had made K. scross she didn't trust the maid to do the sligh

est job - he had no choice but to speak to hefor the first time in five days. "Why is there smuch noise in the hallway today?" he asked ashe poured his coffee out, "Can't something bdone about it? Does this clearing out have to b

done on a Sunday?" K. did not look up at MrGrubach, but he saw nonetheless that she semed to feel some relief as she breathed in. Evesharp questions like this from Mr. K. she pe

ceived as forgiveness, or as the beginning oforgiveness. "We're not clearing anything ouMr. K.," she said, "it's just that Miss Montag moving in with Miss Bürstner and is movinher things across." She said nothing more, bu

just waited to see how K. would take it anwhether he would allow her to carry on speaking. But K. kept her in uncertainty, took thspoon and pensively stirred his coffee while hremained silent. Then he looked up at her an



said, "What about the suspicions you had ealier about Miss Bürstner, have you given themup?" "Mr. K.," called Mrs. Grubach, who ha

been waiting for this very question, as she puher hands together and held them out towardhim. "I just made a chance remark and you tooit so badly. I didn't have the slightest intentioof offending anyone, not you or anyone els

You've known me for long enough, Mr. K., I'msure you're convinced of that. You don't knowhow I've been suffering for the past few dayThat I should tell lies about my tenants! An

you, Mr. K., you believed it! And said I shoulgive you notice! Give you notice!" At this laoutcry, Mrs. Grubach was already choking bacher tears, she raised her apron to her face anblubbered out loud.

"Oh, don't cry Mrs. Grubach," said K., lookinout the window, he was thinking only of MisBürstner and how she was accepting an unknown girl into her room. "Now don't cry," h



said again as he turned his look back into throom where Mrs. Grubach was still crying. meant no harm either when I said that. It wa

simply a misunderstanding between us. Thacan happen even between old friends sometimes." Mrs. Grubach pulled her apron down tbelow her eyes to see whether K. really waattempting a reconciliation. "Well, yes, that

how it is," said K., and as Mrs. Grubach's behaviour indicated that the captain had sainothing he dared to add, "Do you really thinkthen, that I'd want to make an enemy of you fo

the sake of a girl we hardly know?" "Yes, you'rquite right, Mr. K.," said Mrs. Grubach, anthen, to her misfortune, as soon as she felt justlittle freer to speak, she added something ratheinept. "I kept asking myself why it was that M

K. took such an interest in Miss Bürstner. Whdoes he quarrel with me over her when hknows that any cross word from him and I cansleep that night? And I didn't say anythinabout Miss Bürstner that I hadn't seen with m





me and I can let my nephew, the captain, ocupy it. I began to worry he might be disturbing you when I had to let him live in the livin

room next to you over the last few days. Henot very considerate." "What an idea!" said Kstanding up, "there's no question of that. Yoseem to think that because I can't stand this toing and fro-ing of Miss Montag that I'm ove

sensitive - and there she goes back again." MrGrubach appeared quite powerless. "Shouldtell her to leave moving the rest of her thingover till later, then, Mr. K.? If that's what yo

want I'll do it immediately." "But she has tmove in with Miss Bürstner!" said K. "Yes," saiMrs. Grubach, without quite understandinwhat K. meant. "So she has to take her thingover there." Mrs. Grubach just nodded. K. wa

irritated all the more by this dumb helplessneswhich, seen from the outside, could have semed like a kind of defiance on her part. He began to walk up and down the room betweethe window and the door, thus depriving Mr



Grubach of the chance to leave, which she otherwise probably would have done.

Just as K. once more reached the door, someonknocked at it. It was the maid, to say that MisMontag would like to have a few words witMr. K., and therefore requested that he come tthe dining room where she was waiting fo

him. K. heard the maid out thoughtfully, anthen looked back at the shocked Mrs. Grubacin a way that was almost contemptuous. Hlook seemed to be saying that K. had been expecting this invitation for Miss Montag for long time, and that it was confirmation of thsuffering he had been made to endure thaSunday morning from Mrs. Grubach's tenantHe sent the maid back with the reply that h

was on his way, then he went to the wardrobto change his coat, and in answer to Mrs. Grubach's gentle whining about the nuisance MisMontag was causing merely asked her to cleaaway the breakfast things. "But you've hardl



touched it," said Mrs. Grubach. "Oh just take away!" shouted K. It seemed to him that MisMontag was mixed up in everything and mad

it repulsive to him.

As he went through the hallway he looked athe closed door of Miss Bürstner's room. But wasn't there that he was invited, but the dinin

room, to which he yanked the door open without knocking.

The room was long but narrow with one window. There was only enough space available t

put two cupboards at an angle in the corner bthe door, and the rest of the room was entireltaken up with the long dining table which stated by the door and reached all the way to th

great window, which was thus made almoinaccessible. The table was already laid for large number of people, as on Sundays almoall the tenants ate their dinner here at midday.



When K. entered, Miss Montag came towardhim from the window along one side of thtable. They greeted each other in silence. The

Miss Montag, her head unusually erect as aways, said, "I'm not sure whether you knowme." K. looked at her with a frown. "Of coursedo," he said, "you've been living here with MrGrubach for quite some time now." "But I ge

the impression you don't pay much attention twhat's going on in the lodging house," saiMiss Montag. "No," said K. "Would you not likto sit down?" said Miss Montag. In silence, th

two of them drew chairs out from the fartheend of the table and sat down facing each otheBut Miss Montag stood straight up again as shhad left her handbag on the window sill anwent to fetch it; she shuffled down the whol

length of the room. When she came back, thhandbag lightly swinging, she said, "I'd like juto have a few words with you on behalf of mfriend. She would have come herself, but shefeeling a little unwell today. Perhaps you'll b





about, she is quite sure that it would be of nbenefit to anyone if this meeting actually tooplace. Moreover, it was only yesterday, an

only very briefly, that she made it clear to mthat such a meeting could be of no benefit foyourself either, she feels that it can only havbeen a matter of chance that such an idea camto you, and that even without any explanation

from her, you will very soon come to realisyourself, if you have not done so already, thfutility of your idea. My answer to that is thaalthough it may be quite right, I consider it ad

vantageous, if the matter is to be made pefectly clear, to give you an explicit answer. offered my services in taking on the task, anafter some hesitation my friend conceded. hope, however, also to have acted in your in

terests, as even the slightest uncertainty in thleast significant of matters will always remain cause of suffering and if, as in this case, it cabe removed without substantial effort, then it better if that is done without delay." "I than



you," said K. as soon as Miss Montag had finished. He stood slowly up, looked at her, theacross the table, then out the window - th

house opposite stood there in the sun - anwent to the door. Miss Montag followed him few paces, as if she did not quite trust him. Athe door, however, both of them had to steback as it opened and Captain Lanz entered

This was the first time that K. had seen himclose up. He was a large man of about fortwith a tanned, fleshy face. He bowed slightlyintending it also for K., and then went over t

Miss Montag and deferentially kissed her handHe was very elegant in the way he moved. Thcourtesy he showed towards Miss Montamade a striking contrast with the way she habeen treated by K. Nonetheless, Miss Monta

did not seem to be cross with K. as it eveseemed to him that she wanted to introduce thcaptain. K. however, did not want to be introduced, he would not have been able to showany sort of friendliness either to Miss Monta



or to the captain, the kiss on the hand had, foK., bound them into a group which would keehim at a distance from Miss Bürstner whilst a

the same time seeming to be totally harmlesand unselfish. K. thought, however, that he sawmore than that, he thought he also saw thaMiss Montag had chosen a means of doing that was good, but two-edged. She exaggerate

the importance of the relationship between Kand Miss Bürstner, and above all she exaggeated the importance of asking to speak with heand she tried at the same time to make out tha

K. was exaggerating everything. She would bdisappointed, K. did not want to exaggeraanything, he was aware that Miss Bürstner waa little typist who would not offer him mucresistance for long. In doing so he deliberatel

took no account of what Mrs. Grubach had tolhim about Miss Bürstner. All these things wergoing through his mind as he left the roomwith hardly a polite word. He wanted to gstraight to his room, but a little laugh from



Miss Montag that he heard from the dininroom behind him brought him to the idea thahe might prepare a surprise for the two o

them, the captain and Miss Montag. He lookeround and listened to find out if there might bany disturbance from any of the surroundinrooms, everywhere was quiet, the only thing tbe heard was the conversation from the dinin

room and Mrs. Grubach's voice from the pasage leading to the kitchen. This seemed aopportune time, K. went to Miss Bürstnerroom and knocked gently. There was no soun

so he knocked again but there was still no answer in reply. Was she asleep? Or was she relly unwell? Or was she just pretending as shrealised it could only be K. knocking so gentlyK. assumed she was pretending and knocke

harder, eventually, when the knocking broughno result, he carefully opened the door with thsense of doing something that was not onlimproper but also pointless. In the room therwas no-one. What's more, it looked hardly at a



like the room K. had known before. Against thwall there were now two beds behind onanother, there were clothes piled up on thre

chairs near the door, a wardrobe stood openMiss Bürstner must have gone out while MisMontag was speaking to him in the dininroom. K. was not greatly bothered by this, hhad hardly expected to be able to find Mis

Bürstner so easily and had made this attempfor little more reason than to spite Miss Montag. But that made it all the more embarrassinfor him when, as he was closing the door again

he saw Miss Montag and the captain talking ithe open doorway of the dining room. Thehad probably been standing there ever since Khad opened the door, they avoided seeming tobserve K. but chatted lightly and followed h

movements with glances, the absent mindeglances to the side such as you make during conversation. But these glances were heavy foK., and he rushed alongside the wall back inthis own room.



Chapter Five The whip-man

One evening, a few days later, K. was walkinalong one of the corridors that separated hoffice from the main stairway - he was nearlthe last one to leave for home that evening, thre remained only a couple of workers in th

light of a single bulb in the dispatch deparment - when he heard a sigh from behind door which he had himself never opened buwhich he had always thought just led into

junk room. He stood in amazement and listned again to establish whether he might not bmistaken. For a while there was silence, buthen came some more sighs. His first thoughwas to fetch one of the servitors, it might we

have been worth having a witness present, buthen he was taken by an uncontrollable curiosty that make him simply yank the door open. was, as he had thought, a junk room. Old, unu

sable forms, empty stone ink-bottles lay scatte



red behind the entrance. But in the cupboardlike room itself stood three men, crouching under the low ceiling. A candle fixed on a she

gave them light. "What are you doing here?asked K. quietly, but crossly and without thinking. One of the men was clearly in charge, anattracted attention by being dressed in a kind odark leather costume which left his neck an

chest and his arms exposed. He did not answeBut the other two called out, "Mr. K.! We're tbe beaten because you made a complaint abouus to the examining judge." And now, K. finall

realised that it was actually the two policemenFranz and Willem, and that the third man hela cane in his hand with which to beat them"Well," said K., staring at them, "I didn't makany complaint, I only said what took place i

my home. And your behaviour was not entirelunobjectionable, after all." "Mr. K.," said Wllem, while Franz clearly tried to shelter behinhim as protection from the third man, "if yoknew how badly we get paid you wouldn



think so badly of us. I've got a family to feedand Franz here wanted to get married, you juhave to get more money where you can, yo

can't do it just by working hard, not howevehard you try. I was sorely tempted by your finclothes, policemen aren't allowed to do that soof thing, course they aren't, and it wasn't righof us, but it's tradition that the clothes go to th

officers, that's how it's always been, believe mand it's understandable too, isn't it, what cathings like that mean for anyone unluckenough to be arrested? But if he starts talkin

about it openly then the punishment has tfollow." "I didn't know about any of this thyou've been telling me, and I made no sort orequest that you be punished, I was simplacting on principle." "Franz," said Willem, tu

ning to the other policeman, "didn't I tell yothat the gentleman didn't say he wanted us tbe punished? Now you can hear for yourselhe didn't even know we'd have to be punihed." "Don't you let them persuade you, talkin



like that," said the third man to K., "this punishment is both just and unavoidable." "Donlisten to him," said Willem, interrupting himse

only to quickly bring his hand to his moutwhen it had received a stroke of the cane, "were only being punished because you made complaint against us. Nothing would havhappened to us otherwise, not even if they

found out what we'd done. Can you call thajustice? Both of us, me especially, we'd proveour worth as good police officers over a lonperiod - you've got to admit yourself that as fa

as official work was concerned we did the jowell - things looked good for us, we had propects, it's quite certain that we would've beemade whip-men too, like this one, only he hathe luck not to have anyone make a complain

about him, as you really don't get many complaints like that. Only that's all finished nowMr. K., our careers are at an end, we're going thave to do work now that's far inferior to policwork and besides all this we're going to get th



terrible, painful beating." "Can the cane reallcause so much pain, then?" asked K., testing thcane that the whip-man swang in front of him

"We're going to have to strip off totally nakedsaid Willem. "Oh, I see," said K., lookinstraight at the whip-man, his skin was burnebrown like a sailor's, and his face showehealth and vigour. "Is there then no possibilit

of sparing these two their beating?" he askehim. "No," said the whip-man, shaking his heawith a laugh. "Get undressed!" he ordered thpolicemen. And to K. he said, "You shouldn

believe everything they tell you, it's the fear obeing beaten, it's already made them a bit weain the head. This one here, for instance," hpointed at Willem, "all that he told you abouhis career prospects, it's just ridiculous. Look

him, look how fat he is - the first strokes of thcane will just get lost in all that fat. Do yoknow what it is that's made him so fat? He's ithe habit of, everyone that gets arrested by himhe eats their breakfast. Didn't he eat up you



breakfast? Yeah, I thought as much. But a mawith a belly like that can't be made into a whipman and never will be, that is quite out of th

question." "There are whip-men like that," Wllem insisted, who had just released the belt othis trousers. "No," said the whip-man, strikinhim such a blow with the cane on his neck thit made him wince, "you shouldn't be listenin

to this, just get undressed." "I would make well worth your while if you would let themgo," said K., and without looking at the whipman again - as such matters are best carried o

with both pairs of eyes turned down - he pulleout his wallet. "And then you'd try and put incomplaint against me, too," said the whip-man"and get me flogged. No, no!" "Now, do be reasonable," said K., "if I had wanted to get thes

two punished I would not now be trying to butheir freedom, would I. I could simply close thdoor here behind me, go home and see or heanothing more of it. But that's not what I'mdoing, it really is of much more importance t





sers, kneeled down hanging on to K.'s arm anwhispered, "Even if you can't get mercy showfor both of us, at least try and get me set fre

Willem is older than me, he's less sensitive thame in every way, he even got a light beating couple of years ago, but my record's still cleanI only did things the way I did because Willemled me on to it, he's been my teacher both fo

good and bad. Down in front of the bank mpoor bride is waiting for me at the entrance, I'mso ashamed of myself, it's pitiful." His face waflowing over with tears, and he wiped it dry o

K.'s coat. "I'm not going to wait any longersaid the whip-man, taking hold of the cane iboth hands and laying in to Franz while Willemcowered back in a corner and looked on secrtly, not even daring to turn his head. Then, th

sudden scream that shot out from Franz walong and irrevocable, it seemed to come nofrom a human being but from an instrumenthat was being tortured, the whole corridorang with it, it must have been heard by eve



yone in the building. "Don't shout like that!called out K., unable to prevent himself, and, ahe looked anxiously in the direction from

which the servitor would come, he gave Frana shove, not hard, but hard enough for him tfall down unconscious, clawing at the grounwith his hands by reflex; he still did not avoibeing hit; the rod still found him on the floo

the tip of the rod swang regularly up and dowwhile he rolled to and fro under its blows. Annow one of the servitors appeared in the ditance, with another a few steps behind him. K

had quickly thrown the door shut, gone over tone of the windows overlooking the yard anopened it. The screams had completely stopped. So that the servitor wouldn't come in, hcalled out, "It's only me!" "Good evening, chie

clerk," somebody called back. "Is there anythinwrong?" "No, no," answered K., "it's only a doyelping in the yard." There was no sound fromthe servitors so he added, "You can go back twhat you were doing." He did not want to be



come involved with a conversation with themand so he leant out of the window. A little whle later, when he looked out in the corrido

they had already gone. Now, K. remained athe window, he did not dare go back into thjunk room, and he did not want to go homeither. The yard he looked down into was smaand rectangular, all around it were offices, a

the windows were now dark and only those athe very top caught a reflection of the moon. tried hard to see into the darkness of one corneof the yard, where a few handcarts had bee

left behind one another. He felt anguish at nohaving been able to prevent the flogging, buthat was not his fault, if Franz had not screamed like that - clearly it must have caused great deal of pain but it's important to maintai

control of oneself at important moments - Franz had not screamed then it was at leahighly probable that K. would have been abto dissuade the whip-man. If all the junior offcers were contemptible why would the whip



man, whose position was the most inhumane oall, be any exception, and K. had noticed verclearly how his eyes had lit up when he saw th

banknotes, he had obviously only seemed srious about the flogging to raise the level of thbribe a little. And K. had not been ungenerouhe really had wanted to get the policemefreed; if he really had now begun to do some

hing against the degeneracy of the court then was a matter of course that he would have tdo something here as well. But of course, became impossible for him to do anything a

soon as Franz started screaming. K. could nopossibly have let the junior bank staff, and pehaps even all sorts of other people, come alonand catch him by surprise as he haggled witthose people in the junk room. Nobody coul

really expect that sort of sacrifice of him. If thahad been his intention then it would almohave been easier, K. would have taken his owclothes off and offered himself to the whip-main the policemen's place. The whip-man woul



certainly not have accepted this substitutioanyway, as in that way he would have seriouly violated his duty without gaining any bene

fit. He would most likely have violated his duttwice over, as court employees were probablunder orders not to cause any harm to K. whihe was facing charges, although there mahave been special conditions in force her

However things stood, K. was able to do nmore than throw the door shut, even thougthat would still do nothing to remove all thdangers he faced. It was regrettable that he ha

given Franz a shove, and it could only be excused by the heat of the moment.

In the distance, he heard the steps of the servtors; he did not want them to be too aware o

his presence, so he closed the window anwalked towards the main staircase. At the dooof the junk room he stopped and listened for little while. All was silent. The two policemewere entirely at the whip-man's mercy; h



could have beaten them to death. K. reachehis hand out for the door handle but drew suddenly back. He was no longer in any pos

tion to help anyone, and the servitors woulsoon be back; he did, though, promise himsethat he would raise the matter again with somebody and see that, as far as it was in his power, those who really were guilty, the high o

ficials whom nobody had so far dared point outo him, received their due punishment. As hwent down the main stairway at the front of thbank, he looked carefully round at everyon

who was passing, but there was no girl to bseen who might have been waiting for somebody, not even within some distance from thbank. Franz's claim that his bride was waitinfor him was thus shown to be a lie, albeit on

that was forgivable and intended only to elicmore sympathy.

The policemen were still on K.'s mind athrough the following day; he was unable t



concentrate on his work and had to stay in hoffice a little longer than the previous day sthat he could finish it. On the way home, as h

passed by the junk room again, he opened idoor as if that had been his habit. Instead of thdarkness he expected, he saw everything unchanged from the previous evening, and dinot know how he should respond. Everythin

was exactly the same as he had seen it when hhad opened the door the previous evening. Thforms and bottles of ink just inside the dooway, the whip-man with his cane, the two pol

cemen, still undressed, the candle on the sheland the two policemen began to wail and caout "Mr. K.!" K. slammed the door immediatelshut, and even thumped on it with his fists as that would shut it all the firmer. Almost i

tears, he ran to the servitors working quietly athe copying machine. "Go and get that junroom cleared out!" he shouted, and, in amazement, they stopped what they were doing. "should have been done long ago, we're sinkin



in dirt!" They would be able to do the job thnext day, K. nodded, it was too late in the evning to make them do it there and then as h

had originally intended. He sat down briefly iorder to keep them near him for a little longelooked through a few of the copies to give thimpression that he was checking them anthen, as he saw that they would not dare t

leave at the same time as himself, went homtired and with his mind numb.

Chapter Six K.'s uncle - Leni

One afternoon - K. was very busy at the timgetting the post ready - K.'s Uncle Karl, a smacountry land owner, came into the room, puhing his way between two of the staff who were bringing in some papers. K. had long expec



ted his uncle to appear, but the sight of himnow shocked K. far less than the prospect of had done a long time before. His uncle wa

bound to come, K. had been sure of that foabout a month. He already thought at the timhe could see how his uncle would arrive, slightly bowed, his battered panama hat in his lehand, his right hand already stretched out ove

the desk long before he was close enough as hrushed carelessly towards K. knocking oveeverything that was in his way. K.'s uncle waalways in a hurry, as he suffered from the un

fortunate belief that he had a number things tdo while he was in the big city and had to settall of them in one day - his visits were only evefor one day - and at the same time thought hcould not forgo any conversation or piece o

business or pleasure that might arise by chancUncle Karl was K.'s former guardian, and so Kwas duty-bound to help him in all of this awell as to offer him a bed for the night. 'I'm



haunted by a ghost from the country', he woulsay.

As soon as they had greeted each other - K. hainvited him to sit in the armchair but UnclKarl had no time for that - he said he wanted tspeak briefly with K. in private. "It is necessary," he said with a tired gulp, "it is necessary fo

my peace of mind." K. immediately sent thjunior staff from the room and told them to lno-one in. "What's this that I've been hearingJosef?" cried K.'s uncle when they were alonas he sat on the table shoving various paperunder himself without looking at them to makhimself more comfortable. K. said nothing, hknew what was coming, but, suddenly relievefrom the effort of the work he had been doing

he gave way to a pleasant lassitude and lookeout the window at the other side of the streeFrom where he sat, he could see just a smaltriangular section of it, part of the empty walof houses between two shop windows. "You'r



staring out the window!" called out his unclraising his arms, "For God's sake, Josef, give man answer! Is it true, can it really be true?" "Un

cle Karl," said K., wrenching himself back fromhis daydreaming, "I really don't know what it you want of me." "Josef," said his uncle in warning tone, "as far as I know, you've alwaytold the truth. Am I to take what you've ju

said as a bad sign?" "I think I know what it you want," said K. obediently, "I expect you'vheard about my trial." "That's right," answerehis uncle with a slow nod, "I've heard abou

your trial." "Who did you hear it from, thenasked K. "Erna wrote to me," said his uncl"she doesn't have much contact with you, ittrue, you don't pay very much attention to heI'm afraid to say, but she learned about it no

netheless. I got her letter today and, of course,came straight here. And for no other reasonbut it seems to me that this is reason enough.can read you out the part of the letter that concerns you." He drew the letter out from his wa



llet. "Here it is. She writes; 'I have not seen Josfor a long time, I was in the bank last week buJosef was so busy that they would not let m

through; I waited there for nearly an hour buthen I had to go home as I had my piano lessonI would have liked to have spoken to himmaybe there will be a chance another time. Hsent me a big box of chocolates for my name

day, that was very nice and attentive of him.forgot to tell you about it when I wrote, andonly remember now that you ask me about iChocolate, as I am sure you are aware, disap

pears straight away in this lodging house, amost as soon as you know somebody has giveyou chocolate it is gone. But there is somethinelse I wanted to tell you about Josef. Like I saidthey would not let me through to see him at th

bank because he was negotiating with somgentleman just then. After I had been waitinquietly for quite a long time I asked one of thstaff whether his meeting would last much longer. He said it might well do, as it was probabl





simple man. I told him he was not to speak tanyone else about this, and I think it is all just rumour, but I still think it might be good if you

Dear Father, if you looked into the matter thnext time you visit. It will be easy for you tfind out more detail and, if it is really necessary, to do something about it through the greaand influential people you know. But if it is no

necessary, and that is what seems most likelythen at least your daughter will soon have thchance to embrace you and I look forward to i- She's a good child," said K.'s uncle when h

had finished reading, and wiped a few tearfrom his eyes. K. nodded. With all the differendisruptions he had had recently he had completely forgotten about Erna, even her birthdayand the story of the chocolates had clearly ju

been invented so that he wouldn't get in trouble with his aunt and uncle. It was very touching, and even the theatre tickets, which hwould regularly send her from then on, woulnot be enough to repay her, but he really di



not feel, now, that it was right for him to visher in her lodgings and hold conversationwith a little, eighteen year old schoolgirl. "An

what do you have to say about that?" asked huncle, who had forgotten all his rush and exctement as he read the letter, and seemed to babout to read it again. "Yes, Uncle," said K., "is true." "True!" called out his uncle. "What

true? How can this be true? What sort of trial it? Not a criminal trial, I hope?" "It's a crimintrial," answered K. "And you sit quietly herwhile you've got a criminal trial round you

neck?" shouted his uncle, getting ever loude"The more calm I am, the better it will be for thoutcome," said K. in a tired voice, "don't worry." "How can I help worrying?!" shouted huncle, "Josef, my Dear Josef, think about you

self, about your family, think about our gooname! Up till now, you've always been our prde, don't now become our disgrace. I don't likthe way you're behaving," he said, looking at Kwith his head at an angle, "that's not how a



innocent man behaves when he's accused osomething, not if he's still got any strength ihim. Just tell me what it's all about so that I ca

help you. It's something to do with the bank,take it?" "No," said K. as he stood up, "anyou're speaking too loud, Uncle, I expect one othe staff is listening at the door and I find tharather unpleasant. It's best if we go somewher

else, then I can answer all your questions, as faas I can. And I know very well that I have taccount to the family for what I do." "You cetainly do!" his uncle shouted, "Quite right, yo

do. Now just get a move on, Josef, hurry unow!" "I still have a few documents I need tprepare," said K., and, using the intercom, hsummoned his deputy who entered a few moments later. K.'s uncle, still angry and excited

gestured with his hand to show that K. hasummoned him, even though there was nneed whatever to do so. K. stood in front of thdesk and explained to the young man, whlistened calm and attentive, what would nee





the bank, where several members of staff werstanding about and where, just then, the deputy director was walking across, there was un

fortunately no way of stopping K.'s uncle fromcontinually asking questions about the tria"Now then, Josef," he began, lightly acknowledging the bows from those around them athey passed, "tell me everything about this tria

what sort of trial is it?" K. made a few comments which conveyed little information, evelaughed a little, and it was only when they reached the front steps that he explained to h

uncle that he had not wanted to talk openly ifront of those people. "Quite right," said huncle, "but now start talking." With his head tone side, and smoking his cigar in short, imptient draughts, he listened. "First of all, Uncle

said K., "it's not a trial like you'd have in normal courtroom." "So much the worse," saihis uncle. "How's that?" asked K., looking ahim. "What I mean is, that's for the worse," hrepeated. They were standing on the front step



of the bank; as the doorkeeper seemed to blistening to what they were saying K. drew huncle down further, where they were absorbe

into the bustle of the street. His uncle took K.arm and stopped asking questions with sucurgency about the trial, they walked on for while in silence. "But how did all this comabout?" he eventually asked, stopping abruptl

enough to startle the people walking behindwho had to avoid walking into him. "Thinglike this don't come all of a sudden, they stadeveloping a long time beforehand, there mu

have been warning signs of it, why didn't yowrite to me? You know I'd do anything for youto some extent I am still your guardian, anuntil today that's something I was proud of. Istill help you, of course I will, only now, now

that the trial is already underway, it makes very difficult. But whatever; the best thing nowis for you to take a short holiday staying witus in the country. You've lost weight, I can sethat now. The country life will give yo



strength, that will be good, there's bound to ba lot of hard work ahead of you. But besidethat it'll be a way of getting you away from th

court, to some extent. Here they've got evermeans of showing the powers at their disposand they're automatically bound to use themagainst you; in the country they'll either have tdelegate authority to different bodies or ju

have to try and bother you by letter, telegramor telephone. And that's bound to weaken theffect, it won't release you from them but itgive you room to breathe." "You could forbi

me to leave," said K., who had been drawslightly into his uncle's way of thinking bwhat he had been saying. "I didn't think yowould do it," said his uncle thoughtfully, "yowon't suffer too much loss of power by movin

away." K. grasped his uncle under the arm tprevent him stopping still and said, "I thoughyou'd think all this is less important than I dand now you're taking it so hard." "Josef," called his uncle trying to disentangle himse



from him so that he could stop walking, but Kdid not let go, "you've completely changed, yoused to be so astute, are you losing it now? D

you want to lose the trial? Do you realise whathat would mean? That would mean yowould be simply destroyed. And that everyonyou know would be pulled down with you oat the very least humiliated, disgraced righ

down to the ground. Josef, pull yourself togeher. The way you're so indifferent about it, itdriving me mad. Looking at you I can almobelieve that old saying: 'Having a trial like tha

means losing a trial like that'." "My dear Unclesaid K., "it won't do any good to get excited, itno good for you to do it and it'd be no good fome to do it. The case won't be won by gettinexcited, and please admit that my practical ex

perience counts for something, just as I havalways and still do respect your experienceven when it surprises me. You say that thfamily will also be affected by this trial; I reallcan't see how, but that's beside the point an



I'm quite willing to follow your instructions iall of this. Only, I don't see any advantage istaying in the country, not even for you, as tha

would indicate flight and a sense of guilt. Anbesides, although I am more subject to persecution if I stay in the city I can also press the mater forward better here." "You're right," said huncle in a tone that seemed to indicate the

were finally coming closer to each other, "I jumade the suggestion because, as I saw it, if yostay in the city the case will be put in danger byour indifference to it, and I thought it wa

better if I did the work for you. But will yopush things forward yourself with all youstrength, if so, that will naturally be far better"We're agreed then," said K. "And do you havany suggestions for what I should do next

"Well, naturally I'll have to think about it," saihis uncle, "you must bear in mind that I've beeliving in the country for twenty years now, amost without a break, you lose your ability tdeal with matters like this. But I do have som



important connections with several peopwho, I expect, know their way around thesthings better than I do, and to contact them is

matter of course. Out there in the country I'vbeen getting out of condition, I'm sure you'ralready aware of that. It's only at times like ththat you notice it yourself. And this affair oyours came largely unexpected, although, odd

ly enough, I had expected something of the soafter I'd read Erna's letter, and today when saw your face I knew it with almost total cetainty. But all that is by the by, the importan

thing now is, we have no time to lose." Evewhile he was still speaking, K.'s uncle hastood on tiptoe to summon a taxi and now hpulled K. into the car behind himself as he called out an address to the driver. "We're goin

now to see Dr. Huld, the lawyer," he said, "wwere at school together. I'm sure you know thname, don't you? No? Well that is odd. He's goa very good reputation as a defence barristeand for working with the poor. But I esteem



him especially as someone you can trust." "Italright with me, whatever you do," said Kalthough he was made uneasy by the rushe

and urgent way his uncle was dealing with thmatter. It was not very encouraging, as the acused, be to taken to a lawyer for poor peopl"I didn't know," he said, "that you could take oa lawyer in matters like this." "Well of cours

you can," said his uncle, "that goes without saying. Why wouldn't you take on a lawyer? Annow, so that I'm properly instructed in thmatter, tell me what's been happening so far

K. instantly began telling his uncle about whahad been happening, holding nothing back being completely open with him was the onlway that K. could protest at his uncle's beliethat the trial was a great disgrace. He mentio

ned Miss Bürstner's name just once and in pasing, but that did nothing to diminish hopenness about the trial as Miss Bürstner hano connection with it. As he spoke, he lookeout the window and saw how, just then, the



were getting closer to the suburb where thcourt offices were. He drew this to his uncleattention, but he did not find the coincidenc

especially remarkable. The taxi stopped in fronof a dark building. K.'s uncle knocked at thvery first door at ground level; while they wated he smiled, showing his big teeth, and whipered, "Eight o'clock; not the usual sort of tim

to be visiting a lawyer, but Huld won't mind from me." Two large, black eyes appeared ithe spy-hatch in the door, they stared at thtwo visitors for a while and then disappeared

the door, however, did not open. K. and huncle confirmed to each other the fact that thehad seen the two eyes. "A new maid, afraid ostrangers," said K.'s uncle, and knocked againThe eyes appeared once more. This time the

seemed almost sad, but the open gas flame thaburned with a hiss close above their heads gavoff little light and that may have merely createan illusion. "Open the door," called K.'s unclraising his fist against it, "we are friends of D



Huld, the lawyer!" "Dr. Huld is ill," whisperesomeone behind them. In a doorway at the faend of a narrow passage stood a man in h

dressing gown, giving them this information ian extremely quiet voice. K.'s uncle, who haalready been made very angry by the long waiturned abruptly round and retorted, "Ill? Yosay he's ill?" and strode towards the gentlema

in a way that seemed almost threatening, as he were the illness himself. "They've openethe door for you, now," said the gentlemanpointing at the door of the lawyer. He pulle

his dressing gown together and disappearedThe door had indeed been opened, a young gi- K. recognised the dark, slightly bulging eyesstood in the hallway in a long white apronholding a candle in her hand. "Next time, ope

up sooner!" said K.'s uncle instead of a greetingwhile the girl made a slight curtsey. "Comalong, Josef," he then said to K. who was slowlmoving over towards the girl. "Dr. Huld is unwell," said the girl as K.'s uncle, without stop



ping, rushed towards one of the doors. K. continued to look at the girl in amazement as shturned round to block the way into the livin

room, she had a round face like a puppy's, noonly the pale cheeks and the chin were rounbut the temples and the hairline were too. "Josef!" called his uncle once more, and he askethe girl, "It's trouble with his heart, is it?"

think it is, sir," said the girl, who by now hafound time to go ahead with the candle anopen the door into the room. In one corner othe room, where the light of the candle did no

reach, a face with a long beard looked up fromthe bed. "Leni, who's this coming in?" asked thlawyer, unable to recognise his guests becaushe was dazzled by the candle. "It's your olfriend, Albert," said K.'s uncle. "Oh, Albert

said the lawyer, falling back onto his pillow aif this visit meant he would not need to keep uappearances. "Is it really as bad as that?" askeK.'s uncle, sitting on the edge of the bed. don't believe it is. It's a recurrence of your hea



trouble and it'll pass over like the other times"Maybe," said the lawyer quietly, "but it's juas much trouble as it's ever been. I can hardl

breathe, I can't sleep at all and I'm getting weaker by the day." "I see," said K.'s uncle, pressinhis panama hat firmly against his knee with hbig hand. "That is bad news. But are you geting the right sort of care? And it's so depre

sing in here, it's so dark. It's a long time sincewas last here, but it seemed to me friendliethen. Even your young lady here doesn't seemto have much life in her, unless she's just pre

tending." The maid was still standing by thdoor with the candle; as far as could be madout, she was watching K. more than she wawatching his uncle even while the latter wastill speaking about her. K. leant against a cha

that he had pushed near to the girl. "Wheyou're as ill as I am," said the lawyer, "you neeto have peace. I don't find it depressing." Aftea short pause he added, "and Leni looks afteme well, she's a good girl." But that was no







ting and then, somewhat calmer, said, "Whave naturally not lost our senses, not yet; what I am asking for were not possible I woul

not be asking for it. Now please, go!" The carestood up straight by the bed directly facing K.uncle, K. thought he noticed that with one hanshe was stroking the lawyer's hand. "You casay anything in front of Leni," said the invalid

in a tone that was unmistakably imploring. "Itnot my business," said K.'s uncle, "and it's nomy secrets." And he twisted himself round as wanting to go into no more negotiations bu

giving himself a little more time to think"Whose business is it then?" asked the lawyer ian exhausted voice as he leant back again. "Mnephew's," said K.'s uncle, "and I've broughhim along with me." And he introduced him

"Chief Clerk Josef K." "Oh!" said the invalidnow with much more life in him, and reacheout his hand towards K. "Do forgive me, didn't notice you there at all." Then he then saito his carer, "Leni, go," stretching his hand ou





way of indicating that she did not need defending. But in a tone that was much more committed he went on, "As far as your nephew

affairs are concerned, this will be an extremeldifficult undertaking and I'd count myself luky if my strength lasted out long enough for iI'm greatly afraid it won't do, but anyway don't want to leave anything untried; if I don

last out you can always get somebody else. Tbe honest, this matter interests me too muchand I can't bring myself to give up the chancof taking some part in it. If my heart does tota

lly give out then at least it will have found worthy affair to fail in." K. believed he undertood not a word of this entire speech, he lookeat his uncle for an explanation but his uncle saon the bedside table with the candle in h

hand, a medicine bottle had rolled off the tablonto the floor, he nodded to everything thlawyer said, agreed to everything, and now anthen looked at K. urging him to show the samcompliance. Maybe K.'s uncle had already tol



the lawyer about the trial. But that was imposible, everything that had happened so far spoke against it. So he said, "I don't understand …

"Well, maybe I've misunderstood what you'vbeen saying," said the lawyer, just as astonisheand embarrassed as K. "Perhaps I've been gointoo fast. What was it you wanted to speak tme about? I thought it was to do with you

trial." "Of course it is," said K.'s uncle, who theasked K., "So what is it you want?" "Yes, buhow is it that you know anything about me anmy case?" asked K. "Oh, I see," said the lawye

with a smile. "I am a lawyer, I move in coucircles, people talk about various different caseand the more interesting ones stay in youmind, especially when they concern the nephew of a friend. There's nothing very remarka

ble about that." "What is it you want, thenasked K.'s uncle once more, "You seem suneasy about it" "You move in this court's cicles?" asked K. "Yes," said the lawyer. "You'rasking questions like a child," said K.'s uncl



"What circles should I move in, then, if not witmembers of my own discipline?" the lawyeadded. It sounded so indisputable that K. gav

no answer at all. "But you work in the HigCourt, not that court in the attic," he had wanted to say but could not bring himself to actually utter it. "You have to realise," the lawyecontinued, in a tone as if he were explainin

something obvious, unnecessary and incidental, "you have to realise that I also derive greaadvantage for my clients from mixing with those people, and do so in many different way

it's not something you can keep talking abouall the time. I'm at a bit of a disadvantage nowof course, because of my illness, but I still gevisits from some good friends of mine at thcourt and I learn one or two things. It migh

even be that I learn more than many of thoswho are in the best of health and spend all dain court. And I'm receiving a very welcomvisit right now, for instance." And he pointeinto a dark corner of the room. "Where?" aske





hesitatingly, looking all around him, but with certain dignity, he did. "The office director - ohyes, forgive me, I haven't introduced you - th

is my friend Albert K., this is his nephew, thchief clerk Josef K., and this is the office diretor - so, the office director was kind enough tpay me a visit. It's only possible to appreciatjust how valuable a visit like this is if you'v

been let into the secret of what a pile of worthe office director has heaped over him. Welhe came anyway, we were having a peacefuchat, as far as I was able when I'm so weak, an

although we hadn't told Leni she mustn't leanyone in as we weren't expecting anyone, wstill would rather have remained alone, buthen along came you, Albert, thumping youfists on the door, the office director moved ove

into the corner pulling his table and chair withim, but now it turns out we might have, thais, if that's what you wish, we might have something to discuss with each other and would be good if we can all come back togethe



again. - Office director …," he said with hhead on one side, pointing with a humble smito an armchair near the bed. "I'm afraid I'll onl

be able to stay a few minutes more," smiled thoffice director as he spread himself out in tharmchair and looked at the clock. "Businescalls. But I wouldn't want to miss the chance omeeting a friend of my friend." He inclined h

head slightly toward K.'s uncle, who seemevery happy with his new acquaintance, but hwas not the sort of person to express his felings of deference and responded to the offic

director's words with embarrassed, but loudlaughter. A horrible sight! K. was able to quietly watch everything as nobody paid any attention to him, the office director took over as leader of the conversation as seemed to be h

habit once he had been called forward, thlawyer listened attentively with his hand to hear, his initial weakness having perhaps onlhad the function of driving away his new vistors, K.'s uncle served as candle-bearer - balan



cing the candle on his thigh while the officdirector frequently glanced nervously at it and was soon free of his embarrassment an

was quickly enchanted not only by the officdirector's speaking manner but also by the gentle, waving hand-movements with which haccompanied it. K., leaning against the bedposwas totally ignored by the office director, pe

haps deliberately, and served the old man onlas audience. And besides, he had hardly anidea what the conversation was about and hthoughts soon turned to the care assistant an

the ill treatment she had suffered from his uncle. Soon after, he began to wonder whether hhad not seen the office director somewherbefore, perhaps among the people who were ahis first hearing. He may have been mistaken

but thought the office director might well havbeen among the old gentlemen with the thibeards in the first row.



There was then a noise that everyone hearfrom the hallway as if something of porcelaiwere being broken. "I'll go and see what's hap

pened," said K., who slowly left the room as giving the others the chance to stop him. Hhad hardly stepped into the hallway, findinhis bearings in the darkness with his hand stifirmly holding the door, when another sma

hand, much smaller than K.'s own, placed itseon his and gently shut the door. It was the carewho had been waiting there. "Nothing hahappened," she whispered to him, "I just threw

a plate against the wall to get you out of there"I was thinking about you, as well," replied Kuneasily. "So much the better," said the care"Come with me". A few steps along, they camto a frosted glass door which the carer opene

for him. "Come in here," she said. It was clearlthe lawyer's office, fitted out with old, heavfurniture, as far as could be seen in the moonlight which now illuminated just a small, retangular section of the floor by each of the thre





bold person, if anything I'm quite shy, and youLeni, you didn't really look like you could bwon over in one stroke, either." "That's not it

said Leni, laying one arm on the armrest anlooking at K., "you didn't like me, and I donsuppose you like me now, either." "Likinwouldn't be very much," said K., evasively"Oh!" she exclaimed with a smile, thus makin

use of K.'s comment to gain an advantage ovehim. So K. remained silent for a while. By nowhe had become used to the darkness in throom and was able to make out various fixture

and fittings. He was especially impressed by large picture hanging to the right of the doohe leant forward in order to see it better. It depicted a man wearing a judge's robes; he wasitting on a lofty throne gilded in a way tha

shone forth from the picture. The odd thinabout the picture was that this judge was nositting there in dignified calm but had his learm pressed against the back and armrest, hright arm, however, was completely free an



only grasped the armrest with his hand, as about to jump up any moment in vigorous outrage and make some decisive comment o

even to pass sentence. The accused was probably meant to be imagined at the foot of thsteps, the top one of which could be seen in thpicture, covered with a yellow carpet. "Thamight be my judge," said K., pointing to th

picture with one finger. "I know him," said Lenlooking up at the picture, "he comes here quitoften. That picture is from when he was youngbut he can never have looked anything like i

as he's tiny, minute almost. But despite that, hhad himself made to look bigger in the picturas he's madly vain, just like everyone rounhere. But even I'm vain and that makes me verunhappy that you don't like me." K. replied t

that last comment merely by embracing Lenand drawing her towards him, she lay her heaquietly on his shoulder. To the rest of ithough, he said, "What rank is he?" "He's aexamining judge," she said, taking hold of th



hand with which K. held her and playing withis fingers. "Just an examining judge oncagain," said K. in disappointment, "the senio

officials keep themselves hidden. But here he sitting on a throne." "That's all just made upsaid Leni with her face bent over K.'s hand"really he's sitting on a kitchen chair with aold horse blanket folded over it. But do yo

have to be always thinking about your trialshe added slowly. "No, not at all," said K., probably even think too little about it." "Thatnot the mistake you're making," said Len

"you're too unyielding, that's what I've heard"Who said that?" asked K., he felt her bodagainst his chest and looked down on her richdark, tightly-bound hair. "I'd be saying tomuch if I told you that," answered Leni. "Pleas

don't ask for names, but do stop making thesmistakes of yours, stop being so unyieldingthere's nothing you can do to defend yoursefrom this court, you have to confess. So confesto them as soon as you get the chance. It's onl



then that they give you the chance to get awaynot till then. Only, without help from outsideven that's impossible, but you needn't worr

about getting this help as I want to help yomyself." "You understand a lot about this couand what sort of tricks are needed," said K. ahe lifted her, since she was pressing in muctoo close to him, onto his lap. "That's alrigh

then," she said, and made herself comfortabon his lap by smoothing out her skirt and adjusting her blouse. Then she hung both hearms around his neck, leant back and took

long look at him. "And what if I don't confescould you not help me then?" asked K. to teher out. I'm accumulating women to help mhe thought to himself almost in amazemenfirst Miss Bürstner, then the court usher's wif

and now this little care assistant who seems thave some incomprehensible need for me. Thway she sits on my lap as if it were her propeplace! "No," answered Leni, slowly shaking hehead, "I couldn't help you then. But you don



want my help anyway, it means nothing tyou, you're too stubborn and won't be persuaded." Then, after a while she asked, "Do yo

have a lover?" "No," said K. "Oh, you muhave," she said. "Well, I have really," said K"Just think, I've even betrayed her while I'mcarrying her photograph with me." Leni insited he show her a photograph of Elsa, and then

hunched on his lap, studied the picture closelyThe photograph was not one that had been taken while Elsa was posing for it, it showed hejust after she had been in a wild dance such a

she liked to do in wine bars, her skirt was stiflung out as she span round, she had placed hehands on her firm hips and, with her neck heltaut, looked to one side with a laugh; you coulnot see from the picture whom her laugh wa

intended for. "She's very tightly laced," saiLeni, pointing to the place where she thoughthis could be seen. "I don't like her, she's clumsy and crude. But maybe she's gentle anfriendly towards you, that's the impression yo



get from the picture. Big, strong girls like thaoften don't know how to be anything but gentand friendly. Would she be capable of sacrif

cing herself for you, though?" "No," said K"she isn't gentle or friendly, and nor would shbe capable of sacrificing herself for me. But I'vnever yet asked any of those things of her. I'vnever looked at this picture as closely as you

"You can't think much of her, then," said Len"She can't be your lover after all." "Yes she issaid K., "I'm not going to take my word back othat." "Well she might be your lover now, then

said Leni, "but you wouldn't miss her much you lost her or if you exchanged her for sombody else, me for instance." "That is certainlconceivable," said K. with a smile, "but she doehave one major advantage over you, she know

nothing about my trial, and even if she did shwouldn't think about it. She wouldn't try tpersuade me to be less unyielding." "Well thatno advantage," said Leni. "If she's got no advantage other than that, I can keep on hopin



Has she got any bodily defects?" "'Bodily defects'?" asked K. "Yeah," said Leni, "as I do hava bodily defect, just a little one. Look." Sh

spread the middle and ring fingers of her righhand apart from each other. Between those fingers the flap of skin connecting them reacheup almost as far as the top joint of the little finger. In the darkness, K. did not see at first wha

it was she wanted to show him, so she led hhand to it so that he could feel. "What a freak onature," said K., and when he had taken a looat the whole hand he added, "What a prett

claw!" Leni looked on with a kind of pride as Krepeatedly opened and closed her two fingerin amazement, until, finally, he briefly kissethem and let go. "Oh!" she immediately exclamed, "you kissed me!" Hurriedly, and with he

mouth open, she clambered up K.'s lap wither knees. He was almost aghast as he lookeup at her, now that she was so close to him there was a bitter, irritating smell from her, likpepper, she grasped his head, leant out ove



him, and bit and kissed his neck, even bitininto his hair. "I've taken her place!" she exclamed from time to time. "Just look, now you'v

taken me instead of her!" Just then, her kneslipped out and, with a little cry, she nearly fedown onto the carpet, K. tried to hold her bputting his arms around her and was pulledown with her. "Now you're mine," she said

Her last words to him as he left were, "Herethe key to the door, come whenever you wantand she planted an undirected kiss on his backWhen he stepped out the front door there was

light rain falling, he was about to go to thmiddle of the street to see if he could stiglimpse Leni at the window when K.'s uncleapt out of a car that K., thinking of othethings, had not seen waiting outside the bui

ding. He took hold of K. by both arms and shoved him against the door as if he wanted to nahim to it. "Young man," he shouted, "how coulyou do a thing like that?! Things were goinwell with this business of yours, now you'v



caused it terrible damage. You slip off witsome dirty, little thing who, moreover, is obviously the lawyer's beloved, and stay away fo

hours. You don't even try to find an excusdon't try to hide anything, no, you're quiopen about it, you run off with her and stathere. And meanwhile we're sitting there, youuncle who's going to such effort for you, th

lawyer who needs to be won over to your sidand above all the office director, a very impotant gentleman who is in direct command oyour affair in its present stage. We wanted t

discuss how best to help you, I had to handthe lawyer very carefully, he had to handle thoffice director carefully, and you had most reason of all to at least give me some support. Intead of which you stay away. Eventually w

couldn't keep up the pretence any longer, buthese are polite and highly capable men, thedidn't say anything about it so as to spare mfeelings but in the end not even they could continue to force themselves and, as they couldn



speak about the matter in hand, they becamsilent. We sat there for several minutes, listening to see whether you wouldn't finally com

back. All in vain. In the end the office directostood up, as he had stayed far longer than hhad originally intended, made his farewellooked at me in sympathy without being able thelp, he waited at the door for a long time al

hough it's more than I can understand why hwas being so good, and then he went. I, ocourse, was glad he'd gone, I'd been holdinmy breath all this time. All this had even mor

affect on the lawyer lying there ill, when I toomy leave of him, the good man, he was quitunable to speak. You have probably contributed to his total collapse and so brought the verman who you are dependent on closer to h

death. And me, your own uncle, you leave mhere in the rain - just feel this, I'm wet righthrough - waiting here for hours, sick with worry."



Chapter Seven Lawyer - Manufacturer Painter

One winter morning - snow was falling in thdull light outside - K. was sitting in his officalready extremely tired despite the early houHe had told the servitor he was engaged in

major piece of work and none of the junior stashould be allowed in to see him, so he woulnot be disturbed by them at least. But instead oworking he turned round in his chair, slowl

moved various items around his desk, but thenwithout being aware of it, he lay his arm streched out on the desk top and sat there immoble with his head sunk down on his chest.

He was no longer able to get the thought of thtrial out of his head. He had often wonderewhether it might not be a good idea to worout a written defence and hand it in to thcourt. It would contain a short description o



his life and explain why he had acted the wahe had at each event that was in any way important, whether he now considered he ha

acted well or ill, and his reasons for each. Therwas no doubt of the advantages a written defence of this sort would have over relying othe lawyer, who was anyway not without hshortcomings. K. had no idea what actions th

lawyer was taking; it was certainly not a lot, was more than a month since the lawyer hasummoned him, and none of the previous dicussions had given K. the impression that th

man would be able to do much for him. Moimportantly, he had asked him hardly anquestions. And there were so many questionhere to be asked. Asking questions were thmost important thing. K. had the feeling that h

would be able to ask all the questions needehere himself. The lawyer, in contrast, did noask questions but did all the talking himself osat silently facing him, leant forward slightlover the desk, probably because he was hard o



hearing, pulled on a strand of hair in the middle of his beard and looked down at the carpeperhaps at the very spot where K. had lain wit

Leni. Now and then he would give K. somvague warning of the sort you give to childrenHis speeches were as pointless as they werboring, and K. decided that when the final bicame he would pay not a penny for them. Onc

the lawyer thought he had humiliated K. suffciently, he usually started something thawould raise his spirits again. He had alreadyhe would then say, won many such cases, pa

tly or in whole, cases which may not reallhave been as difficult as this one but which, othe face of it, had even less hope of success. Hhad a list of these cases here in the drawerhere he would tap on one or other of the dra

wers in his desk - but could, unfortunately, noshow them to K. as they dealt with official secrets. Nonetheless, the great experience he haacquired through all these cases would, ocourse, be of benefit to K. He had, of cours



begun work straight away and was nearly ready to submit the first documents. They woulbe very important because the first impressio

made by the defence will often determine thwhole course of the proceedings. Unfortunately, though, he would still have to make it cleato K. that the first documents submitted arsometimes not even read by the court. The

simply put them with the other documents anpoint out that, for the time being, questioninand observing the accused are much more important than anything written. If the applican

becomes insistent, then they add that beforthey come to any decision, as soon as all thmaterial has been brought together, with duregard, of course, to all the documents, thethese first documents to have been submitte

will also be checked over. But unfortunatelyeven this is not usually true, the first documents submitted are usually mislaid or locompletely, and even if they do keep themright to the end they are hardly read, althoug



the lawyer only knew about this from rumouThis is all very regrettable, but not entirely wihout its justifications. But K. should not forg

that the trial would not be public, if the coudeems it necessary it can be made public buthere is no law that says it has to be. As a resulthe accused and his defence don't have acceseven to the court records, and especially not t

the indictment, and that means we generalldon't know - or at least not precisely - what thfirst documents need to be about, which meanthat if they do contain anything of relevance t

the case it's only by a lucky coincidence. anything about the individual charges and threasons for them comes out clearly or can bguessed at while the accused is being questioned, then it's possible to work out and subm

documents that really direct the issue and present proof, but not before. Conditions like thiof course, place the defence in a very unfavourable and difficult position. But that is whathey intend. In fact, defence is not really allo



wed under the law, it's only tolerated, and there is even some dispute about whether the relevant parts of the law imply even that. So stri

tly speaking, there is no such thing as a counsacknowledged by the court, and anyone whcomes before this court as counsel is basicallno more than a barrack room lawyer. The effeof all this, of course, is to remove the dignity o

the whole procedure, the next time K. is in thcourt offices he might like to have a look in athe lawyers' room, just so that he's seen it. Hmight well be quite shocked by the people h

sees assembled there. The room they've beeallocated, with its narrow space and low celing, will be enough to show what contempt thcourt has for these people. The only light in throom comes through a little window that is s

high up that, if you want to look out of it, yofirst have to get one of your colleagues to support you on his back, and even then the smokfrom the chimney just in front of it will go uyour nose and make your face black. In th



floor of this room - to give yet another exampof the conditions there - there is a hole thatbeen there for more than a year, it's not so bi

that a man could fall through, but it is bienough for your foot to disappear through iThe lawyers' room is on the second floor of thattic; if your foot does go through it will handown into the first floor of the attic underneat

it, and right in the corridor where the litiganare waiting. It's no exaggeration when lawyersay that conditions like that are a disgracComplaints to the management don't have th

slightest effect, but the lawyers are strictly fobidden to alter anything in the room at theown expense. But even treating the lawyers ithis way has its reasons. They want, as far apossible, to prevent any kind of defence, eve

rything should be made the responsibility othe accused. Not a bad point of view, basicallybut nothing could be more mistaken than tthink from that that lawyers are not necessarfor the accused in this court. On the contrary



there is no court where they are less needethan here. This is because proceedings are generally kept secret not only from the public bu

also from the accused. Only as far as that possible, of course, but it is possible to a verlarge extent. And the accused doesn't get to sethe court records either, and it's very difficult tinfer what's in the court records from what

been said during questioning based on themespecially for the accused who is in a difficusituation and is faced with every possible worry to distract him. This is when the defenc

begins. Counsel for the defence are not normally allowed to be present while the accused being questioned, so afterwards, and if possibstill at the door of the interview room, he has tlearn what he can about it from him and extra

whatever he can that might be of use, evethough what the accused has to report is oftevery confused. But that is not the most impotant thing, as there's really not a lot that can blearned in this way, although in this, as wit



anything else, a competent man will learn morthan another. Nonetheless, the most importanthing is the lawyer's personal connection

that's where the real value of taking counslies. Now K. will most likely have already leaned from his own experience that, among ivery lowest orders, the court organisation doehave its imperfections, the court is strictly clo

sed to the public, but staff who forget their duty or who take bribes do, to some extent, showwhere the gaps are. This is where most lawyerwill push their way in, this is where bribes ar

paid and information extracted, there haveven, in earlier times at least, been incidenwhere documents have been stolen. There's ndenying that some surprisingly favourable results have been attained for the accused in th

way, for a limited time, and these petty advocates then strut to and fro on the basis of themand attract new clients, but for the further couse of the proceedings it signifies either nothinor nothing good. The only things of real valu



are honest personal contacts, contacts with higher officials, albeit higher officials of the lowegrades, you understand. That is the only wa

the progress of the trial can be influencedhardly noticeable at first, it's true, but from theon it becomes more and more visible. There arof course, not many lawyers who can do thiand K. has made a very good choice in th

matter. There were probably no more than onor two who had as many contacts as Dr. Huldbut they don't bother with the company of thlawyers' room and have nothing to do with i

This means they have all the less contact witthe court officials. It is not at all necessary foDr. Huld to go to the court, wait in the anterooms for the examining judges to turn up, they turn up, and try to achieve somethin

which, according to the judges' mood is usuallmore apparent than real and most often noeven that. No, K. has seen for himself that thcourt officials, including some who are quithigh up, come forward without being asked



are glad to give information which is fully opeor at least easy to understand, they discuss thnext stages in the proceedings, in fact in som

cases they can be won over and are quite wlling to adopt the other person's point of viewHowever, when this happens, you should never trust them too far, as however firmly themay have declared this new point of view i

favour of the defendant they might well gstraight back to their offices and write a repofor the court that says just the opposite, anmight well be even harder on the defendan

than the original view, the one they insithey've been fully dissuaded from. And, ocourse, there's no way of defending yoursefrom this, something said in private is indeein private and cannot then be used in publi

it's not something that makes it easy for thdefence to keep those gentlemen's favour. Othe other hand, it's also true that the gentlemedon't become involved with the defence which will of course be done with great expe



tise - just for philanthropic reasons or in ordeto be friendly, in some respects it would btruer to say that they, too, have it allocated t

them. This is where the disadvantages of court structure that, right from the start, stipulates that all proceedings take place in privatcome into force. In normal, mediocre trials iofficials have contact with the public, an

they're very well equipped for it, but here thedon't; normal trials run their course all bthemselves, almost, and just need a nudge herand there; but when they're faced with case

that are especially difficult they're as lost athey often are with ones that are very simplthey're forced to spend all their time, day annight, with their laws, and so they don't havthe right feel for human relationships, an

that's a serious shortcoming in cases like thiThat's when they come for advice to the lawyewith a servant behind them carrying the documents which normally are kept so secret. Yocould have seen many gentlemen at this win





vants like this are not able to learn the thingyou can learn from studying the successivstages that individual trials go through, th

final verdict or the reasons for it. They're onlallowed to deal with that part of the trial whicthe law allocates them, and they usually knowless about the results of their work after it's lethem than the defence does, even though th

defence will usually stay in contact with thaccused until the trial is nearly at its end, sthat the court officials can learn many usefuthings from the defence. Bearing all this i

mind, does it still surprise K. that the officiaare irritated and often express themselveabout the litigants in unflattering ways - whicis an experience shared by everyone. All thofficials are irritated, even when they appea

calm. This causes many difficulties for the junior advocates, of course. There is a story, foinstance, that has very much the ring of trutabout it. It goes like this: One of the older offcials, a good and peaceful man, was dealin



with a difficult matter for the court which habecome very confused, especially thanks to thcontributions from the lawyers. He had bee

studying it for a day and a night without break - as these officials are indeed hard woking, no-one works as hard as they do. When was nearly morning, and he had been workinfor twenty-four hours with probably very littl

result, he went to the front entrance, waitethere in ambush, and every time a lawyer trieto enter the building he would throw himdown the steps. The lawyers gathered togethe

down in front of the steps and discussed witeach other what they should do; on the onhand they had actually no right to be alloweinto the building so that there was hardly anyhing that they could legally do to the officia

and, as I've already mentioned, they woulhave to be careful not to set all the officiaagainst them. On the other hand, any day nospent in court is a day lost for them and it was matter of some importance to force their wa



inside. In the end, they agreed that they woultry to tire the old man out. One lawyer afteanother was sent out to run up the steps and l

himself be thrown down again, offering wharesistance he could as long as it was passivresistance, and his colleagues would catch himat the bottom of the steps. That went on foabout an hour until the old gentleman, wh

was already exhausted from working all nighwas very tired and went back to his office. Those who were at the bottom of the steps coulnot believe it at first, so they sent somebody ou

to go and look behind the door to see if therreally was no-one there, and only then did theall gather together and probably didn't evedare to complain, as it's far from being the lawyers' job to introduce any improvements in th

court system, or even to want to. Even the mojunior lawyer can understand the relationshithere to some extent, but one significant poinis that almost every defendant, even very simple people, begins to think of suggestions fo



improving the court as soon as his proceedinghave begun, many of them often even spentime and energy on the matter that could b

spent far better elsewhere. The only right thinto do is to learn how to deal with the situatioas it is. Even if it were possible to improve andetail of it - which is anyway no more than superstitious nonsense - the best that they coul

achieve, although doing themselves incalculable harm in the process, is that they will havattracted the special attention of the officials foany case that comes up in the future, and th

officials are always ready to seek revenge. Never attract attention to yourself! Stay calmhowever much it goes against your characteTry to gain some insight into the size of thcourt organism and how, to some extent, it re

mains in a state of suspension, and that even you alter something in one place you'll drawthe ground out from under your feet and mighfall, whereas if an enormous organism like thcourt is disrupted in any one place it finds



easy to provide a substitute for itself somewhere else. Everything is connected with everyhing else and will continue without any chang

or else, which is quite probable, even more closed, more attentive, more strict, more malevolent. So it's best to leave the work to the lawyerand not to keep disturbing them. It doesn't dmuch good to make accusations, especially

you can't make it clear what they're based oand their full significance, but it must be saithat K. caused a great deal of harm to his owcase by his behaviour towards the office dire

tor, he was a very influential man but now hmight as well be struck off the list of those whmight do anything for K. If the trial is mentioned, even just in passing, it's quite obvious thahe's ignoring it. These officials are in man

ways just like children. Often, something quitharmless - although K.'s behaviour could unfortunately not be called harmless - will leavthem feeling so offended that they will evestop talking with good friends of theirs, the



turn away when they see them and do everyhing they can to oppose them. But then, witno particular reason, surprisingly enough, so

me little joke that was only ever attempted because everything seemed so hopeless will makthem laugh and they'll be reconciled. It's botdifficult and hard at the same time to deal witthem, and there's hardly any reason for it. It

sometimes quite astonishing that a single, avrage life is enough to encompass so much thait's at all possible ever to have any success ione's work here. On the other hand, there ar

also dark moments, such as everyone hawhen you think you've achieved nothing at alwhen it seems that the only trials to come to good end are those that were determined thave a good end from the start and would d

so without any help, while all the others arlost despite all the running to and fro, all theffort, all the little, apparent successes that gavsuch joy. Then you no longer feel very sure oanything and, if asked about a trial that wa



doing well by its own nature but which waturned for the worse because you assisted in iwould not even dare deny that. And even tha

is a kind of self- confidence, but then it's thonly one that's left. Lawyers are especially vunerable to fits of depression of that sort - anthey are no more than fits of depression ocourse - when a case is suddenly taken out o

their hands after they've been conducting satisfactorily for some time. That's probably thworst that can happen to a lawyer. It's not thathe accused takes the case away from him, tha

hardly ever happens, once a defendant has taken on a certain lawyer he has to stay with himwhatever happens. How could he ever carry oby himself after he's taken on help from a lawyer? No, that just doesn't happen, but wha

does sometimes happen is that the trial takeon a course where the lawyer may not go alonwith it. Client and trial are both simply takeaway from the lawyer; and then even contawith the court officials won't help, howeve



good they are, as they don't know anythinthemselves. The trial will have entered a stagwhere no more help can be given, where it

being processed in courts to which no-one haany access, where the defendant cannot even bcontacted by his lawyer. You come home onday and find all the documents you've submited, which you've worked hard to create an

which you had the best hopes for, lying on thdesk, they've been sent back as they can't bcarried through to the next stage in the triathey're just worthless scraps of paper. It doesn

mean that the case has been lost, not at all, or aleast there is no decisive reason for supposinso, it's just that you don't know anything morabout the case and won't be told anything owhat's happening. Well, cases like that are th

exceptions, I'm glad to say, and even if K.'s triis one of them, it's still, for the time being, long way off. But there was still plenty of opportunity for lawyers to get to work, and Kcould be sure they would be made use of. As h



had said, the time for submitting documenwas still in the future and there was no rush tprepare them, it was much more important t

start the initial discussions with the appropriaofficials, and they had already taken placWith varying degrees of success, it must bsaid. It was much better not to give away andetails before their time, as in that way K. coul

only be influenced unfavourably and his hopemight be raised or he might be made toanxious, better just to say that some individuahave spoken very favourably and shown them

selves very willing to help, although otherhave spoken less favourably, but even thehave not in any way refused to help. So all iall, the results are very encouraging, only yoshould certainly not draw any particular con

clusions as all preliminary proceedings begin ithe same way and it was only the way thedeveloped further that would show what thvalue of these preliminary proceedings habeen. Anyway, nothing has been lost yet, and



we can succeed in getting the office directodespite everything, on our side - and severactions have been undertaken to this end - the

everything is a clean wound, as a surgeowould say, and we can wait for the results witsome comfort.

When he started talking on in this way the law

yer was quite tireless. He went through it aagain every time K. went to see him. There waalways some progress, but he could never btold what sort of progress it was. The first set odocuments to be submitted were being workeon but still not ready, which usually turned outo be a great advantage the next time K. went tsee him as the earlier occasion would have beea very bad time to put them in, which the

could not then have known. If K., stupefiefrom all this talking, ever pointed out that eveconsidering all these difficulties progress wavery slow, the lawyer would object that progress was not slow at all, but that they migh



have progressed far further if K. had come thim at the right time. But he had come to himlate and that lateness would bring still furthe

difficulties, and not only where time was concerned. The only welcome interruption durinthese visits was always when Leni contrived tbring the lawyer his tea while K. was therThen she would stand behind K. - pretendin

to watch the lawyer as he bent greedily over hcup, poured the tea in and drank - and secretllet K. hold her hand. There was always complte silence. The lawyer drank. K. squeezed Leni

hand and Leni would sometimes dare to gentlstroke K.'s hair. "Still here, are you?" the lawyewould ask when he was ready. "I wanted ttake the dishes away," said Leni, they woulgive each other's hands a final squeeze, th

lawyer would wipe his mouth and then statalking at K. again with renewed energy.

Was the lawyer trying to comfort K. or to confuse him? K. could not tell, but it seemed clea



to him that his defence was not in good handMaybe everything the lawyer said was quiright, even though he obviously wanted to ma

ke himself as conspicuous as possible and probably had never even taken on a case as impotant as he said K.'s was. But it was still suspcious how he continually mentioned his personal contacts with the civil servants. Were the

to be exploited solely for K.'s benefit? The lawyer never forgot to mention that they were deling only with junior officials, which meanofficials who were dependent on others, an

the direction taken in each trial could be impotant for their own furtherment. Could it be thathey were making use of the lawyer to turtrials in a certain direction, which would, ocourse, always be at the cost of the defendan

It certainly did not mean that they would dthat in every trial, that was not likely at all, anthere were probably also trials where they gavthe lawyer advantages and all the room hneeded to turn it in the direction he wanted, a



it would also be to their advantage to keep hreputation intact. If that really was their relationship, how would they direct K.'s tri

which, as the lawyer had explained, was especially difficult and therefore important enougto attract great attention from the very first tme it came to court? There could not be mucdoubt about what they would do. The fir

signs of it could already be seen in the fact thathe first documents still had not been submitteeven though the trial had already lasted severmonths, and that, according to the lawyer, eve

rything was still in its initial stages, which wavery effective, of course, in making the defendant passive and keeping him helpless. Then hcould be suddenly surprised with the verdicor at least with a notification that the hearin

had not decided in his favour and the mattewould be passed on to a higher office.

It was essential that K. take a hand in it himselOn winter's mornings such as this, when h



was very tired and everything dragged itselethargically through his head, this belief of hseemed irrefutable. He no longer felt the con

tempt for the trial that he had had earlier. If hhad been alone in the world it would have beeeasy for him to ignore it, although it was alscertain that, in that case, the trial would nevehave arisen in the first place. But now, his unc

had already dragged him to see the lawyer, hhad to take account of his family; his job was nlonger totally separate from the progress of thtrial, he himself had carelessly - with a certain

inexplicable complacency - mentioned it to aquaintances and others had learned about it iways he did not know, his relationship witMiss Bürstner seemed to be in trouble becausof it. In short, he no longer had any choic

whether he would accept the trial or turn down, he was in the middle of it and had tdefend himself. If he was tired, then that wabad.



But there was no reason to worry too mucbefore he needed to. He had been capable oworking himself up to his high position in th

bank in a relatively short time and to retain with respect from everyone, now he simply hato apply some of the talents that had made thapossible for him to the trial, and there was ndoubt that it had to turn out well. The mo

important thing, if something was to be achived, was to reject in advance any idea that hmight be in any way guilty. There was no guilThe trial was nothing but a big piece of bus

ness, just like he had already concluded to thbenefit of the bank many times, a piece of busness that concealed many lurking dangers wating in ambush for him, as they usually didand these dangers would need to be defende

against. If that was to be achieved then he munot entertain any idea of guilt, whatever he didhe would need to look after his own interests aclosely as he could. Seen in this way, there wano choice but to take his representation awa





against a defendant who knew how to defenand make use of his rights.

But when K. had the confidence to try and dall this the difficulty of composing the documents was too much for him. Earlier, just week or so before, he could only have felt shame at the thought of being made to write ou

such documents himself; it had never enterehis head that the task could also be difficult. Hremembered one morning when, already pileup with work, he suddenly shoved everythinto one side and took a pad of paper on whiche sketched out some of his thoughts on howdocuments of this sort should proceed. Perhaphe would offer them to that slow-witted lawyer, but just then the door of the manager's o

fice opened and the deputy-director entered throom with a loud laugh. K. was very embarrased, although the deputy-director, of courswas not laughing at K.'s documents, which hknew nothing about, but at a joke he had ju



heard about the stock-exchange, a joke whicneeded an illustration if it was to be undertood, and now the deputy- director leant ove

K.'s desk, took his pencil from his hand, andrew the illustration on the writing pad that Khad intended for his ideas about his case.

K. now had no more thoughts of shame, th

documents had to be prepared and submittedIf, as was very likely, he could find no time tdo it in the office he would have to do it home at night. If the nights weren't enough hwould have to take a holiday. Above all, hcould not stop half way, that was nonsense noonly in business but always and everywherNeedless to say, the documents would mean aalmost endless amount of work. It was easy t

come to the belief, not only for those of aanxious disposition, that it was impossible eveto finish it. This was not because of laziness odeceit, which were the only things that mighhave hindered the lawyer in preparing it, bu



because he did not know what the charge waor even what consequences it might bring, sthat he had to remember every tiny action an

event from the whole of his life, looking them from all sides and checking and reconsdering them. It was also a very dishearteninjob. It would have been more suitable as a waof passing the long days after he had retire

and become senile. But now, just when K. neded to apply all his thoughts to his work, whehe was still rising and already posed a threat tthe deputy-director, when every hour passe

so quickly and he wanted to enjoy the brieevenings and nights as a young man, this wathe time he had to start working out these documents. Once more, he began to feel resenment. Almost involuntarily, only to put an en

to it, his finger felt for the button of the electrbell in the ante-room. As he pressed it he glanced up to the clock. It was eleven o'clock, twhours, he had spent a great deal of his costltime just dreaming and his wits were, of cours



even more dulled than they had been beforBut the time had, nonetheless, not been wastedhe had come to some decisions that could be o

value. As well as various pieces of mail, thservitors brought two visiting cards from gentlemen who had already been waiting for K. fosome time. They were actually very importanclients of the bank who should not really hav

been kept waiting under any circumstanceWhy had they come at such an awkward timand why, the gentlemen on the other side of thclosed door seemed to be asking, was the in

dustrious K. using up the best business time fohis private affairs? Tired from what had gonbefore, and tired in anticipation of what was tfollow, K. stood up to receive the first of them.

He was a short, jolly man, a manufacturer whK. knew well. He apologised for disturbing Kat some important work, and K., for his parapologised for having kept the manufacturewaiting for so long. But even this apology wa



spoken in such a mechanical way and witsuch false intonation that the manufacturewould certainly have noticed if he had not bee

fully preoccupied with his business affairs. Intead, he hurriedly pulled calculations and tables out from all his pockets, spread them ouin front of K., explained several items, correctea little mistake in the arithmetic that he notice

as he quickly glanced over it all, and remindeK. of a similar piece of business he'd concludewith him about a year before, mentioning ipassing that this time there was another ban

spending great effort to get his business, anfinally stopped speaking in order to learn K.opinion on the matter. And K. had indeed, afirst, been closely following what the manufaturer was saying, he too was aware of how im

portant the deal was, but unfortunately it dinot last, he soon stopped listening, nodded aeach of the manufacturer's louder exclamationfor a short while, but eventually he stoppedoing even that and did no more than stare



the bald head bent over the papers, asking himself when the manufacturer would finally realse that everything he was saying was useles

When he did stop talking, K. really thought afirst that this was so that he would have thchance to confess that he was incapable of litening. Instead, seeing the anticipation on thmanufacturer's face, obviously ready to counte

any objections made, he was sorry to realisthat the business discussion had to be contnued. So he bent his head as if he'd been givean order and began slowly to move his penc

over the papers, now and then he would stoand stare at one of the figures. The manufacturer thought there must be some objection, pehaps his figures weren't really sound, perhapthey weren't the decisive issue, whatever h

thought, the manufacturer covered the paperwith his hand and began once again, movinvery close to K., to explain what the deal waall about. "It is difficult," said K., pursing hlips. The only thing that could offer him an



guidance were the papers, and the manufacturer had covered them from his view, so he jusank back against the arm of the chair. Eve

when the door of the manager's office openeand revealed not very clearly, as if through veil, the deputy director, he did no more thalook up weakly. K. thought no more about thmatter, he merely watched the immediate effe

of the deputy director's appearance and, fohim, the effect was very pleasing; the manufaturer immediately jumped up from his seat anhurried over to meet the deputy director, al

hough K. would have liked to make him tetimes livelier as he feared the deputy directomight disappear again. He need not have worried, the two gentlemen met each other, shooeach other's hand and went together over t

K.'s desk. The manufacturer said he was sorrto find the chief clerk so little inclined to dbusiness, pointing to K. who, under the view othe deputy director, had bent back down ovethe papers. As the two men leant over the des



and the manufacturer made some effort to gaiand keep the deputy director's attention, K. feas if they were much bigger than they reall

were and that their negotiations were abouhim. Carefully and slowly turning his eyes upwards, he tried to learn what was taking placabove him, took one of the papers from hdesk without looking to see what it was, lay

on the flat of his hand and raised it slowly uas he rose up to the level of the two men himself. He had no particular plan in mind as hdid this, but merely felt this was how he woul

act if only he had finished preparing that greadocument that was to remove his burden entrely. The deputy director had been paying ahis attention to the conversation and did nmore than glance at the paper, he did not rea

what was written on it at all as what was important for the chief clerk was not important fohim, he took it from K.'s hand saying, "Thanyou, I'm already familiar with everything", anlay it calmly back on the desk. K. gave him





made no other retaliation, bent down slightland supported himself with both hands on hdesk like a clerk, and watched as the two gen

tlemen, still talking, took the papers from hdesk and disappeared into the manager's officIn the doorway, the manufacturer turned ansaid he wouldn't make his farewell with K. juyet, he would of course let the chief clerk know

about the success of his discussions but he alshad a little something to tell him about.

At last, K. was by himself. It did not enter hhead to show anyone else into his office anonly became vaguely aware of how nice it wathat the people outside thought he was stinegotiating with the manufacturer and, for threason, he could not let anyone in to see him

not even the servitor. He went over to the window, sat down on the ledge beside it, held firmly on to the handle and looked down onto thsquare outside. The snow was still falling, thweather still had not brightened up at all.





would mean, later on, his complete and conclusive liberation, but if he was to achieve this hwould have to place himself, to start with, i

far greater danger than he had been in so far. he ever felt tempted to doubt this, then his experience with the deputy director and the manufacturer that day would be quite enough tconvince him of it. How could he have sat ther

totally convinced of the need to do his owdefence? How would it be later? What woulhis life be like in the days ahead? Would hfind the way through it all to a happy conclu

sion? Did a carefully worked out defence - anany other sort would have made no sense - dia carefully worked out defence not also meahe would need to shut himself off from everyhing else as much as he could? Would he su

vive that? And how was he to succeed in conducting all this at the bank? It involved mucmore than just submitting some documents thahe could probably prepare in a few days' leavalthough it would have been great temerity t



ask for time off from the bank just at that timit was a whole trial and there was no way oseeing how long it might last. This was a

enormous difficulty that had suddenly beethrown into K.'s life!

And was he supposed to be doing the bankwork at a time like this? He looked down at h

desk. Was he supposed to let people in to sehim and go into negotiations with them at time like this? While his trial trundled on, whilthe court officials upstairs in the attic room salooking at the papers for this trial, should he bworrying about the business of the bank? Dithis not seem like a kind of torture, acknowledged by the court, connected with the trial anwhich followed him around? And is it likel

that anyone in the bank, when judging hwork, would take any account of his peculiasituation? No- one and never. There were thoswho knew about his trial, although it was noquite clear who knew about it or how much



But he hoped rumours had not reached as faas the deputy director, otherwise he woulobviously soon find a way of making use of

to harm K., he would show neither comradehip nor humaneness. And what about the drector? It was true that he was well disposetowards K., and as soon as he heard about thtrial he would probably try to do everything h

could to make it easier for him, but he woulcertainly not devote himself to it. K. at one timhad provided the counter-balance to what thdeputy director said but the director was now

coming more and more under his influencand the deputy director would also exploit thweakened condition of the director to strenghen his own power. So what could K. hope forMaybe considerations of this sort weakened h

power of resistance, but it was still necessarnot to deceive oneself and to see everything aclearly as it could be seen at that moment.



For no particular reason, just to avoiding retuning to his desk for a while, he opened the window. It was difficult to open and he had to tur

the handle with both his hands. Then, througthe whole height and breadth of the windowthe mixture of fog and smoke was drawn intthe room, filling it with a slight smell of burning. A few flakes of snow were blown in wit

it. "It's a horrible autumn," said the manufacturer, who had come into the room unnoticeafter seeing the deputy director and now stoobehind K. K. nodded and looked uneasily at th

manufacturer's briefcase, from which he woulnow probably take the papers and inform K. othe result of his negotiations with the deputdirector. However, the manufacturer saw where K. was looking, knocked on his briefcase an

without opening it said, "You'll be wanting thear how things turned out. I've already got thcontract in my pocket, almost. He's a charminman, your deputy director - he's got his dangers, though." He laughed as he shook K.



hand and wanted to make him laugh with himBut to K., it once more seemed suspicious thathe manufacturer did not want to show him th

papers and saw nothing about his comments tlaugh at. "Chief clerk," said the manufacturer, expect the weather's been affecting your moodhas it? You're looking so worried today." "Yessaid K., raising his hand and holding the tem

ple of his head, "headaches, worries in the famly." "Quite right," said the manufacturer, whwas always in a hurry and could never listen tanyone for very long, "everyone has his cross t

bear." K. had unconsciously made a step towards the door as if wanting to show the manufacturer out, but the manufacturer said"Chief clerk, there's something else I'd like tmention to you. I'm very sorry if it's somethin

that'll be a burden to you today of all days buI've been to see you twice already, lately, aneach time I forgot all about it. If I delay it anlonger it might well lose its point altogetheThat would be a pity, as I think what I've got t



say does have some value." Before K. had hathe time to answer, the manufacturer came uclose to him, tapped his knuckle lightly on h

chest and said quietly, "You've got a trial goinon, haven't you?" K. stepped back and immdiately exclaimed, "That's what the deputy drector's been telling you!" "No, no," said thmanufacturer, "how would the deputy directo

know about it?" "And what about you?" askeK., already more in control of himself. "I heathings about the court here and there," said thmanufacturer, "and that even applies to what

is that I wanted to tell you about." "There are smany people who have connections with thcourt!" said K. with lowered head, and he lethe manufacturer over to his desk. They sadown where they had been before, and the ma

nufacturer said, "I'm afraid it's not very mucthat I've got to tell you about. Only, in matterlike this, it's best not to overlook the tiniest dtails. Besides, I really want to help you in somway, however modest my help might be. We'v



been good business partners up till nowhaven't we? Well then." K. wanted to apologisfor his behaviour in the conversation earlie

that day, but the manufacturer would toleratno interruption, shoved his briefcase up high ihis armpit to show that he was in a hurry, ancarried on. "I know about your case through certain Titorelli. He's a painter, Titorelli's ju

his artistic name, I don't even know what hreal name is. He's been coming to me in moffice for years from time to time, and bringlittle pictures with him which I buy more o

less just for the sake of charity as he's hardlmore than a beggar. And they're nice picturetoo, moorland landscapes and that sort othing. We'd both got used to doing business ithis way and it always went smoothly. Only

one time these visits became a bit too frequenI began to tell him off for it, we started talkinand I became interested how it was that hcould earn a living just by painting, and thenlearned to my amazement that his main sourc



of income was painting portraits. 'I work for thcourt,' he said, 'what court?' said I. And thatwhen he told me about the court. I'm sure yo

can imagine how amazed I was at being told athis. Ever since then I learn something newabout the court every time he comes to visiand so little by little I get to understand somehing of how it works. Anyway, Titorelli talks

lot and I often have to push him away, not onlbecause he's bound to be lying but also, most oall, because a businessman like me who's already close to breaking point under the weight o

his own business worries can't pay too mucattention to other people's. But all that's just bthe by. Perhaps - this is what I've been thinkin- perhaps Titorelli might be able to help you isome small way, he knows lots of judges an

even if he can't have much influence himself hcan give you some advice about how to gsome influential people on your side. And eveif this advice doesn't turn out to make all thdifference I still think it'll be very importan



once you've got it. You're nearly a lawyer youself. That's what I always say, Mr. K. the chieclerk is nearly a lawyer. Oh I'm sure this trial o

yours will turn out all right. So do you want tgo and see Titorelli, then? If I ask him to hecertainly do everything he possibly can. I realldo think you ought to go. It needn't be today, ocourse, just some time, when you get the chan

ce. And anyway - I want to tell you this tooyou don't actually have to go and see Titorellthis advice from me doesn't place you undeany obligation at all. No, if you think you ca

get by without Titorelli it'll certainly be betteto leave him completely out of it. Maybe you'valready got a clear idea of what you're doinand Titorelli could upset your plans. No, that's the case then of course you shouldn't g

there under any circumstances! And it certainlwon't be easy to take advice from a lad likthat. Still, it's up to you. Here's the letter of recommendation and here's the address."



Disappointed, K. took the letter and put it in hpocket. Even at best, the advantage he mighderive from this recommendation was incom

parably smaller than the damage that lay in thfact of the manufacturer knowing about htrial, and that the painter was spreading thnews about. It was all he could manage to givthe manufacturer, who was already on his wa

to the door, a few words of thanks. "I'll go thre," he said as he took his leave of the manufacturer at the door, "or, as I'm very busy at present, I'll write to him, perhaps he would like t

come to me in my office some time." "I was suryou'd find the best solution," said the manufaturer. "Although I had thought you'd prefer tavoid inviting people like this Titorelli to thbank and talking about the trial here. And it

not always a good idea to send letters to peoplike Titorelli, you don't know what might happen to them. But you're bound to have thougheverything through and you know what yocan and can't do." K. nodded and accompanie



the manufacturer on through the ante-roomBut despite seeming calm on the outside he waactually very shocked; he had told the manu

facturer he would write to Titorelli only tshow him in some way that he valued his recommendations and would consider the oppotunity to speak with Titorelli without delay, buif he had thought Titorelli could offer an

worthwhile assistance he would not have delayed. But it was only the manufacturer's comment that made K. realise what dangers thacould lead to. Was he really able to rely on h

own understanding so little? If it was possibthat he might invite a questionable characteinto the bank with a clear letter, and ask advicfrom him about his trial, separated from thdeputy director by no more than a door, was

not possible or even very likely that there weralso other dangers he had failed to see or thahe was even running towards? There was noalways someone beside him to warn him. Anjust now, just when he would have to act wit



all the strength he could muster, now a numbeof doubts of a sort he had never before knowhad presented themselves and affected his ow

vigilance! The difficulties he had been feeling icarrying out his office work; were they nowgoing to affect the trial too? Now, at least, hfound himself quite unable to understand howhe could have intended to write to Titorelli an

invite him into the bank.

He shook his head at the thought of it once more as the servitor came up beside him and drewhis attention to the three gentlemen who werwaiting on a bench in the ante-room. They haalready been waiting to see K. for a long timNow that the servitor was speaking with Kthey had stood up and each of them wanted t

make use of the opportunity to see K. beforthe others. It had been negligent of the bank tlet them waste their time here in the waitinroom, but none of them wanted to draw attention to this. "Mr. K., …" one of them was s



ying, but K. had told the servitor to fetch hwinter coat and said to the three of them, as thservitor helped him to put it on, "Please forgiv

me, gentlemen, I'm afraid I have no time to seyou at present. Please do forgive me but I havsome urgent business to settle and have to leave straight away. You've already seen yourseves how long I've been delayed. Would you b

so kind as to come back tomorrow or some tme? Or perhaps we could settle your affairs btelephone? Or perhaps you would like to teme now, briefly, what it's about and I can the

give you a full answer in writing. Whatevethe best thing will be for you to come heragain." The gentlemen now saw that their wahad been totally pointless, and these suggetions of K.'s left them so astounded that the

looked at each other without a word. "Thatagreed then, is it?" asked K., who had turnetoward the servitor bringing him his haThrough the open door of K.'s office they coulsee that the snowfall outside had become muc



heavier. So K. turned the collar of his coat uand buttoned it up high under his chin. Juthen the deputy director came out of the adjo

ning room, smiled as he saw K. negotiatinwith the gentlemen in his winter coat, and aked, "Are you about to go out?" "Yes," said Kstanding more upright, "I have to go out osome business." But the deputy director ha

already turned towards the gentlemen. "Anwhat about these gentlemen?" he asked. think they've already been waiting quite a lontime." "We've already come to an understan

ding," said K. But now the gentlemen could bheld back no longer, they surrounded K. anexplained that they would not have been wating for hours if it had not been about somehing important that had to be discussed now, a

length and in private. The deputy director litened to them for a short while, he also lookeat K. as he held his hat in his hand cleaning thdust off it here and there, and then he said"Gentlemen, there is a very simple way to solv



this. If you would prefer it, I'll be very glad ttake over these negotiations instead of the chieclerk. Your business does, of course, need to b

discussed without delay. We are businessmelike yourselves and know the value of a busnessman's time. Would you like to come thway?" And he opened the door leading to thante-room of his own office.

The deputy director seemed very good at appropriating everything that K. was now forceto give up! But was K. not giving up more thahe absolutely had to? By running off to somunknown painter, with, as he had to admivery little hope of any vague benefit, his renown was suffering damage that could not mrepaired. It would probably be much better t

take off his winter coat again and, at the verleast, try to win back the two gentlemen whwere certainly still waiting in the next room. K. had not then glimpsed the deputy director ihis office, looking for something from h



bookshelves as if they were his own, he woulprobably even have made the attempt. As Ksomewhat agitated, approached the door th

deputy director called out, "Oh, you've still noleft!" He turned his face toward him - its mandeep folds seemed to show strength rather thaage - and immediately began once more tsearch. "I'm looking for a copy of a contract," h

said, "which this gentleman insists you muhave. Could you help me look for it, do yothink?" K. made a step forward, but the deputdirector said, "thank you, I've already found it

and with a big package of papers, which cetainly must have included many more documents than just the copy of the contract, he tuned and went back into his own office.

"I can't deal with him right now," K. said thimself, "but once my personal difficulties havbeen settled, then he'll certainly be the first tget the effect of it, and he certainly won't likit." Slightly calmed by these thoughts, K. gav



the servitor, who had already long been hoding the door to the corridor open for him, thtask of telling the director, when he was abl

that K. was going out of the bank on a businesmatter. As he left the bank he felt almost happat the thought of being able to devote more ohimself to his own business for a while.

He went straight to the painter, who lived in aoutlying part of town which was very near tthe court offices, although this area was evepoorer, the houses were darker, the streets were full of dirt that slowly blew about over thhalf-melted snow. In the great gateway to thbuilding where the painter lived only one othe two doors was open, a hole had been broken open in the wall by the other door, and a

K. approached it a repulsive, yellow, steaminliquid shot out causing some rats to scurraway into the nearby canal. Down by the staicase there was a small child lying on its bellcrying, but it could hardly be heard because o



the noise from a metal-workshop on the otheside of the entrance hall, drowning out another sound. The door to the workshop wa

open, three workers stood in a circle arounsome piece of work that they were beating withammers. A large tin plate hung on the walcasting a pale light that pushed its way in beween two of the workers, lighting up their face

and their work-aprons. K. did no more thaglance at any of these things, he wanted to gthings over with here as soon as possible, texchange just a few words to find out how

things stood with the painter and go straighback to the bank. Even if he had just some tinsuccess here it would still have a good effect ohis work at the bank for that day. On the thirfloor he had to slow down his pace, he wa

quite out of breath - the steps, just like thheight of each floor, were much higher thathey needed to be and he'd been told that thpainter lived right up in the attic. The air waalso quite oppressive, there was no prope



stairwell and the narrow steps were closed iby walls on both sides with no more than small, high window here and there. Just as K

paused for a while some young girls ran out oone of the flats and rushed higher up the stairlaughing. K. followed them slowly, caught uwith one of the girls who had stumbled anbeen left behind by the others, and asked her a

they went up side by side, "Is there a painteTitorelli, who lives here?" The girl, hardly thiteen years old and somewhat hunchbackedjabbed him with her elbow and looked at him

sideways. Her youth and her bodily defechad done nothing to stop her being alreadquite depraved. She did not smile once, bulooked at K. earnestly, with sharp, acquisitiveyes. K. pretended not to notice her behaviou

and asked, "Do you know Titorelli, the painter?" She nodded and asked in reply, "Whad'you want to see him for?" K. thought it woulbe to his advantage quickly to find out somehing more about Titorelli. "I want to have him



paint my portrait," he said. "Paint your potrait?" she asked, opening her mouth too widand lightly hitting K. with her hand as if he ha

said something extraordinarily surprising oclumsy, with both hands she lifted her skirwhich was already very short, and, as fast ashe could, she ran off after the other girls whose indistinct shouts lost themselves in th

heights. At the next turn of the stairs, howeveK. encountered all the girls once more. Thhunchbacked girl had clearly told them abouK.'s intentions and they were waiting for him

They stood on both sides of the stairs, pressinthemselves against the wall so that K. could gthrough between them, and smoothed theaprons down with their hands. All their faceeven in this guard of honour, showed a mixtur

of childishness and depravity. Up at the heaof the line of girls, who now, laughing, began tclose in around K., was the hunchback who hataken on the role of leader. It was thanks to hethat K. found the right direction without delay



he would have continued up the stairs straighin front of him, but she showed him that treach Titorelli he would need to turn off to on

side. The steps that led up to the painter werespecially narrow, very long without any tuning, the whole length could be seen in onglance and, at the top, at Titorelli's closed dooit came to its end. This door was much bette

illuminated than the rest of the stairway by thlight from a small skylight set obliquely abovit, it had been put together from unpainteplanks of wood and the name 'Titorelli' wa

painted on it in broad, red brushstrokes. K. wano more than half way up the steps, accompanied by his retinue of girls, when, clearly thresult of the noise of all those footsteps, thdoor opened slightly and in the crack a ma

who seemed to be dressed in just his nightshiappeared. "Oh!" he cried, when he saw the approaching crowd, and vanished. The hunchbacked girl clapped her hands in glee and th





stretched their necks up high and called ouvarious words to the painter which were meanin jest but which K. did not understand, an

even the painter laughed as the hunchbacwhirled round in his hand. Then he shut thdoor, bowed once more to K., offered him hhand and introduced himself, saying, "Titorellpainter". K. pointed to the door, behind whic

the girls were whispering, and said, "You seemto be very popular in this building." "Ach, thosbrats!" said the painter, trying in vain to fastehis nightshirt at the neck. He was also bare

footed and, apart from that, was wearing nohing more than a loose pair of yellowish linetrousers held up with a belt whose free enwhipped to and fro. "Those kids are a real buden for me," he continued. The top button o

his nightshirt came off and he gave up trying tfasten it, fetched a chair for K. and made himsit down on it. "I painted one of them onceshe's not here today - and ever since then theyve been following me about. If I'm here the



only come in when I allow it, but as soon as I'vgone out there's always at least one of them ihere. They had a key made to my door an

lend it round to each other. It's hard to imaginwhat a pain that is. Suppose I come back homwith a lady I'm going to paint, I open the doowith my own key and find the hunchback theror something, by the table painting her lips re

with my paintbrush, and meanwhile her littsisters will be keeping guard for her, movinabout and causing chaos in every corner of throom. Or else, like happened yesterday, I migh

come back home late in the evening - pleasforgive my appearance and the room being in mess, it is to do with them - so, I might comhome late in the evening and want to go to bedthen I feel something pinching my leg, loo

under the bed and pull another of them oufrom under it. I don't know why it is they boher me like this, I expect you've just seen thatdo nothing to encourage them to come near mAnd they make it hard for me to do my wor





which the fog made it impossible to see furthethan the snow covered roof of the neighbourinbuilding.

The turning of the key in the lock reminded Kthat he had not wanted to stay too long. So hdrew the manufacturer's letter out from hpocket, held it out to the painter and said,

learned about you from this gentleman, an aquaintance of yours, and it's on his advice thaI've come here". The painter glanced througthe letter and threw it down onto the bed. If thmanufacturer had not said very clearly thaTitorelli was an acquaintance of his, a poor mawho was dependent on his charity, then would really have been quite possible to believe that Titorelli did not know him or at lea

that he could not remember him. This impresion was augmented by the painter's asking"Were you wanting to buy some pictures or diyou want to have yourself painted?" K. lookeat the painter in astonishment. What did th



letter actually say? K. had taken it as a matter ocourse that the manufacturer had explained tthe painter in his letter that K. wanted nothin

more with him than to find out more about htrial. He had been far too rash in coming herBut now he had to give the painter some sort oanswer and, glancing at the easel, said, "Aryou working on a picture currently?" "Yes

said the painter, and he took the shirt hanginover the easel and threw it onto the bed aftethe letter. "It's a portrait. Quite a good piece owork, although it's not quite finished yet." Th

was a convenient coincidence for K., it gavhim a good opportunity to talk about the couas the picture showed, very clearly, a judgWhat's more, it was remarkably similar to thpicture in the lawyer's office, although this on

showed a quite different judge, a heavy mawith a full beard which was black and bushand extended to the sides far up the mancheeks. The lawyer's picture was also an opainting, whereas this one had been made wit



pastel colours and was pale and unclear. Bueverything else about the picture was similaas this judge, too, was holding tightly to th

arm of his throne and seemed ominously abouto rise from it. At first K. was about to say, "Hcertainly is a judge," but he held himself bacfor the time being and went closer to the picture as if he wanted to study it in detail. Ther

was a large figure shown in middle of the throne's back rest which K. could not understanand asked the painter about it. That'll need some more work done on it, the painter told him

and taking a pastel crayon from a small table hadded a few strokes to the edges of the figurbut without making it any clearer as far as Kcould make out. "That's the figure of justicesaid the painter, finally. "Now I see," said K

"here's the blindfold and here are the scales. Buaren't those wings on her heels, and isn't shmoving?" "Yes," said the painter, "I had to painit like that according to the contract. It's actually the figure of justice and the goddess of vi



tory all in one." "That is not a good combination," said K. with a smile. "Justice needs tremain still, otherwise the scales will mov

about and it won't be possible to make a juverdict." "I'm just doing what the client wanted," said the painter. "Yes, certainly," said Kwho had not meant to criticise anyone by thacomment. "You've painted the figure as it a

tually appears on the throne." "No," said thpainter, "I've never seen that figure or that throne, it's all just invention, but they told me whait was I had to paint." "How's that?" asked K

pretending not fully to understand what thpainter said. "That is a judge sitting on the judge's chair, isn't it?" "Yes," said the painter, "buthat judge isn't very high up and he's never saon any throne like that." "And he has himse

painted in such a grand pose? He's sitting therjust like the president of the court." "Yeah, gentlemen like this are very vain," said the painte"But they have permission from higher up tget themselves painted like this. It's laid dow



quite strictly just what sort of portrait each othem can get for himself. Only it's a pity thayou can't make out the details of his costum

and pose in this picture, pastel colours arenreally suitable for showing people like this"Yes," said K., "it does seem odd that it's in patel colours." "That's what the judge wantedsaid the painter, "it's meant to be for a woman

The sight of the picture seemed to make himfeel like working, he rolled up his shirtsleevepicked up a few of the crayons, and K. watcheas a reddish shadow built up around the hea

of the judge under their quivering tips and radiated out the to edges of the picture. This shadow play slowly surrounded the head like decoration or lofty distinction. But around thfigure of Justice, apart from some coloratio

that was barely noticeable, it remained lighand in this brightness the figure seemed to shne forward so that it now looked like neithethe God of Justice nor the God of Victory, seemed now, rather, to be a perfect depiction o



the God of the Hunt. K. found the painterwork more engrossing than he had wanted; bufinally he reproached himself for staying s

long without having done anything relevant this own affair. "What's the name of this judgehe asked suddenly. "I'm not allowed to tell yothat," the painter answered. He was bent deply over the picture and clearly neglecting h

guest who, at first, he had received with succare. K. took this to be just a foible of the painter's, and it irritated him as it made him lostime. "I take it you must be a trustee of th

court," he said. The painter immediately put hcrayons down, stood upright, rubbed his handtogether and looked at K. with a smile. "Alwaystraight out with the truth," he said. "You wanto learn something about the court, like it say

in your letter of recommendation, but then yostart talking about my pictures to get me oyour side. Still, I won't hold it against you, yoweren't to know that that was entirely thwrong thing to try with me. Oh, please!" h



said sharply, repelling K.'s attempt to maksome objection. He then continued, "And besdes, you're quite right in your comment tha

I'm a trustee of the court." He made a pause, aif wanting to give K. the time to come to termwith this fact. The girls could once more bheard from behind the door. They were probably pressed around the keyhole, perhaps the

could even see into the room through the gapin the planks. K. forewent the opportunity texcuse himself in some way as he did not wisto distract the painter from what he was sayin

or else perhaps he didn't want him to get tofar above himself and in this way make himseto some extent unattainable, so he asked, "that a publicly acknowledged position?" "Nowas the painter's curt reply, as if the questio

prevented him saying any more. But K. wantehim to continue speaking and said, "Well, postions like that, that aren't officially acknowledged, can often have more influence than thosthat are." "And that's how it is with me," sai



the painter, and nodded with a frown. "I watalking about your case with the manufactureyesterday, and he asked me if I wouldn't like t

help you, and I answered: 'He can come ansee me if he likes', and now I'm pleased to seyou here so soon. This business seems to bquite important to you, and, of course, I'm nosurprised at that. Would you not like to tak

your coat off now?" K. had intended to stay foonly a very short time, but the painter's invitation was nonetheless very welcome. The air ithe room had slowly become quite oppressiv

for him, he had several times looked in amazement at a small, iron stove in the corner thacertainly could not have been lit, the heat of throom was inexplicable. As he took off his winter overcoat and also unbuttoned his frock coa

the painter said to him in apology, "I must havwarmth. And it is very cosy here, isn't it. Throom's very good in that respect." K. made nreply, but it was actually not the heat that madhim uncomfortable but, much more, the stuff



ness, the air that almost made it more difficuto breathe, the room had probably not beeventilated for a long time. The unpleasantnes

of this was made all the stronger for K. whethe painter invited him to sit on the bed whihe himself sat down on the only chair in throom in front of the easel. The painter eveseemed to misunderstand why K. remained a

the edge of the bed and urged K. to make himself comfortable, and as he hesitated he wenover to the bed himself and pressed K. deedown into the bedclothes and pillows. Then h

went back to his seat and at last he asked hfirst objective question, which made K. forgeverything else. "You're innocent, are you?" hasked. "Yes," said K. He felt a simple joy aanswering this question, especially as the an

wer was given to a private individual and therefore would have no consequences. Up tithen no-one had asked him this question sopenly. To make the most of his pleasure hadded, "I am totally innocent." "So," said th



painter, and he lowered his head and seemeto be thinking. Suddenly he raised his heaagain and said, "Well if you're innocent it's a

very simple." K. began to scowl, this supposetrustee of the court was talking like an ignoranchild. "My being innocent does not make thingsimple," said K. Despite everything, he couldnhelp smiling and slowly shook his head. "Ther

are many fine details in which the court gelost, but in the end it reaches into some placwhere originally there was nothing and pulenormous guilt out of it." "Yeah, yeah, sure

said the painter, as if K. had been disturbing htrain of thought for no reason. "But you arinnocent, aren't you?" "Well of course I amsaid K. "That's the main thing," said the painteThere was no counter-argument that could in

fluence him, but although he had made up hmind it was not clear whether he was talkinthis way because of conviction or indifferencK., then, wanted to find out and said therefor"I'm sure you're more familiar with the cou



than I am, I know hardly more about it thawhat I've heard, and that's been from manvery different people. But they were all agree

on one thing, and that was that when ithought-out accusations are made they are noignored, and that once the court has made aaccusation it is convinced of the guilt of thdefendant and it's very hard to make it thin

otherwise." "Very hard?" the painter askedthrowing one hand up in the air. "It's impossble to make it think otherwise. If I painted athe judges next to each other here on canva

and you were trying to defend yourself in fronof it, you'd have more success with them thayou'd ever have with the real court." "Yes," saiK. to himself, forgetting that he had only gonthere to investigate the painter.

One of the girls behind the door started uagain, and asked, "Titorelli, is he going to gsoon?" "Quiet!" shouted the painter at the doo"Can't you see I'm talking with the gentleman



But this was not enough to satisfy the girl anshe asked, "You going to paint his picture?And when the painter didn't answer she added

"Please don't paint him, he's an 'orrible blokeThere followed an incomprehensible, interwoven babble of shouts and replies and calls oagreement. The painter leapt over to the dooopened it very slightly - the girls' clasped hand

could be seen stretching through the crack as they wanted something - and said, "If you'rnot quiet I'll throw you all down the stairs. Sdown here on the steps and be quiet." The

probably did not obey him immediately, so thahe had to command, "Down on the steps!" Onlthen it became quiet.

"I'm sorry about that," said the painter as h

returned to K. K. had hardly turned towardthe door, he had left it completely up to thpainter whether and how he would place himunder his protection if he wanted to. Even nowhe made hardly any movement as the painte



bent over him and, whispering into his ear iorder not to be heard outside, said, "These girbelong to the court as well." "How's that?" a

ked K., as he leant his head to one side and looked at the painter. But the painter sat bacdown on his chair and, half in jest, half in explanation, "Well, everything belongs to thcourt." "That is something I had never notice

until now," said K. curtly, this general commenof the painter's made his comment about thgirls far less disturbing. Nonetheless, K. lookefor a while at the door, behind which the gir

were now sitting quietly on the steps. Excepthat one of them had pushed a drinking strawthrough a crack between the planks and wamoving it slowly up and down. "You still donseem to have much general idea of what th

court's about", said the painter, who had streched his legs wide apart and was tapping loudly on the floor with the tip of his foot. "But ayou're innocent you won't need it anyway. Iget you out of this by myself." "How do yo



intend to do that?" asked K. "You did say youself not long ago that it's quite impossible to gto the court with reasons and proofs." "Onl

impossible for reasons and proofs you take tthe court yourself" said the painter, raising hforefinger as if K. had failed to notice a findistinction. "It goes differently if you try to dsomething behind the public court, that's to sa

in the consultation rooms, in the corridors ohere, for instance, in my studio." K. now begato find it far easier to believe what the paintewas saying, or rather it was largely in agre

ment with what he had also been told by ohers. In fact it was even quite promising. If really was so easy to influence the judgethrough personal contacts as the lawyer hasaid then the painter's contacts with these vai

judges was especially important, and at thvery least should not be undervalued. And thpainter would fit in very well in the circle oassistants that K. was slowly gathering arounhimself. He had been noted at the bank for h



talent in organising, here, where he was placeentirely on his own resources, would be a gooopportunity to test that talent to its limits. Th

painter observed the effect his explanation hahad on K. and then, with a certain unease, said"Does it not occur to you that the way I'm speaking is almost like a lawyer? It's the incessancontact with the gentlemen of the court has th

influence on me. I gain a lot by it, of course, buI lose a lot, artistically speaking." "How did yofirst come into contact with the judges, thenasked K., he wanted first to gain the painter

trust before he took him into his service. "Thawas very easy," said the painter, "I inheritethese contacts. My father was court painter before me. It's a position that's always inheritedThey can't use new people for it, the rules go

verning how the various grades of officials arpainted are so many and varied, and, above also secret that no- one outside of certain familieeven knows them. In the drawer there, for intance, I've got my father's notes, which I don



show to anyone. But you're only able to painjudges if you know what they say. Althougheven if I lost them no-one could ever disput

my position because of all the rules I just carrround in my head. All the judges want to bpainted like the old, great judges were, and I'mthe only one who can do that." "You are to benvied," said K., thinking of his position at th

bank. "Your position is quite unassailablthen?" "Yes, quite unassailable," said the painter, and he raised his shoulders in pride. "Thathow I can even afford to help some poor ma

facing trial now and then." "And how do yodo that?" asked K., as if the painter had not judescribed him as a poor man. The painter dinot let himself be distracted, but said, "In youcase, for instance, as you're totally innocen

this is what I'll do." The repeated mention oK.'s innocence was becoming irksome to him. sometimes seemed to him as if the painter wausing these comments to make a favouraboutcome to the trial a precondition for his help





your innocence alone. In that case you wonneed me or any other kind of help."

At first, K. was astonished at this orderly explanation, but then, just as quietly as the painter, he said, "I think you're contradicting youself." "How's that?" asked the painter patientlyleaning back with a smile. This smile made K

feel as if he were examining not the words othe painter but seeking out inconsistencies ithe procedures of the court itself. Nonetheleshe continued unabashed and said, "You remaked earlier that the court cannot be approachewith reasoned proofs, you later restricted thto the open court, and now you go so far as tsay that an innocent man needs no assistance icourt. That entails a contradiction. Moreove

you said earlier that the judges can be influenced personally but now you insist that an absolute acquittal, as you call it, can never be attaned through personal influence. That entails second contradiction." "It's quite easy to clea



up these contradictions," said the painter. "Were talking about two different things here, there's what it says in the law and there's what

know from my own experience, you shouldnget the two confused. I've never seen it in wrting, but the law does, of course, say on the onhand that the innocent will be set free, but othe other hand it doesn't say that the judges ca

be influenced. But in my experience it's the oher way round. I don't know of any absoluacquittals but I do know of many times when judge has been influenced. It's possible, o

course, that there was no innocence in any othe cases I know about. But is that likely? Notsingle innocent defendant in so many casesWhen I was a boy I used to listen closely to mfather when he told us about court cases a

home, and the judges that came to his studitalked about the court, in our circles nobodtalks about anything else; I hardly ever got thchance to go to court myself but always maduse of it when I could, I've listened to countles



trials at important stages in their developmenI've followed them closely as far as they coulbe followed, and I have to say that I've neve

seen a single acquittal." "So. Not a single acquital," said K., as if talking to himself and hhopes. "That confirms the impression I alreadhave of the court. So there's no point in it fromthis side either. They could replace the who

court with a single hangman." "You shouldngeneralise," said the painter, dissatisfied, "I'vonly been talking about my own experience"Well that's enough," said K., "or have yo

heard of any acquittals that happened earlier?"They say there have been some acquittals ealier," the painter answered, "but it's very harto be sure about it. The courts don't make thefinal conclusions public, not even the judges ar

allowed to know about them, so that all wknow about these earlier cases are just legendBut most of them did involve absolute acquitals, you can believe that, but they can't be proved. On the other hand, you shouldn't forget a



about them either, I'm sure there is some trutto them, and they are very beautiful, I've painted a few pictures myself depicting these le

gends." "My assessment will not be altered bmere legends," said K. "I don't suppose it's posible to cite these legends in court, is it?" Thpainter laughed. "No, you can't cite them icourt," he said. "Then there's no point in talkin

about them," said K., he wanted, for the timbeing, to accept anything the painter told himeven if he thought it unlikely or contradictewhat he had been told by others. He did no

now have the time to examine the truth of everything the painter said or even to disprove ihe would have achieved as much as he could the painter would help him in any way even his help would not be decisive. As a result, h

said, "So let's pay no more attention to absolutacquittal, but you mentioned two other possiblities." "Apparent acquittal and defermenThey're the only possibilities," said the painte"But before we talk about them, would you no



like to take your coat off? You must be hot"Yes," said K., who until then had paid attention to nothing but the painter's explanation

but now that he had had the heat pointed out thim his brow began to sweat heavily. "It's amost unbearable." The painter nodded as if hunderstood K.'s discomfort very well. "Coulwe not open the window?" asked K. "No," sai

the painter. "It's only a fixed pane of glass, can't be opened." K. now realised that all thtime he had been hoping the painter woulsuddenly go over to the window and pull

open. He had prepared himself even for the fothat he would breathe in through his opemouth. The thought that here he was entirelcut off from the air made him feel dizzy. Htapped lightly on the bedspread beside him

and, with a weak voice, said, "That is very inconvenient and unhealthy." "Oh no," said thpainter in defence of his window, "as it can't bopened this room retains the heat better than the window were double glazed, even thoug



it's only a single pane. There's not much need tair the room as there's so much ventilatiothrough the gaps in the wood, but when I d

want to I can open one of my doors, or eveboth of them." K. was slightly consoled by thexplanation and looked around to see wherthe second door was. The painter saw him dso and said, "It's behind you, I had to hide

behind the bed." Only then was K. able to sethe little door in the wall. "It's really much tosmall for a studio here," said the painter, as he wanted to anticipate an objection K. woul

make. "I had to arrange things as well as could. That's obviously a very bad place for thbed, in front of the door. For instance when thjudge I'm painting at present comes he alwaycomes through the door by the bed, and I'v

even given him a key to this door so that he cawait for me here in the studio when I'm nohome. Although nowadays he usually comeearly in the morning when I'm still asleep. Anof course, it always wakes me up when I hea



the door opened beside the bed, however faasleep I am. If you could hear the way I curshim as he climbs over my bed in the mornin

you'd lose all respect for judges. I supposecould take the key away from him but thatonly make things worse. It only takes a tineffort to break any of the doors here off thehinges." All the time the painter was speaking

K. was considering whether he should take ohis coat, but he finally realised that, if he didndo so, he would be quite unable to stay herany longer, so he took off his frock coat and la

it on his knee so that he could put it back oagain as soon as the conversation was over. Hhad hardly done this when one of the girls called out, "Now he's taken his coat off!" and thecould all be heard pressing around the gaps i

the planks to see the spectacle for themselve"The girls think I'm going to paint your potrait," said the painter, "and that's why you'rtaking your coat off." "I see," said K., only slightly amused by this, as he felt little better than h



had before even though he now sat in hshirtsleeves. With some irritation he asked"What did you say the two other possibilitie

were?" He had already forgotten the termused. "Apparent acquittal and deferment," saithe painter. "It's up to you which one you choose. You can get either of them if I help you, buit'll take some effort of course, the differenc

between them is that apparent acquittal needconcentrated effort for a while and that defement takes much less effort but it has to be sutained. Now then, apparent acquittal. If that

what you want I'll write down an assertion oyour innocence on a piece of paper. The text foan assertion of this sort was passed down to mfrom my father and it's quite unassailable. take this assertion round to the judges I know

So I'll start off with the one I'm currently painting, and put the assertion to him when he comes for his sitting this evening. I'll lay the asertion in front of him, explain that you're innocent and give him my personal guarantee o



it. And that's not just a superficial guaranteit's a real one and it's binding." The paintereyes seemed to show some reproach of K. fo

wanting to impose that sort of responsibility ohim. "That would be very kind of you", said K"And would the judge then believe you annonetheless not pass an absolute acquittal"It's like I just said," answered the painter. "An

anyway, it's not entirely sure that all the judgewould believe me, many of them, for instancmight want me to bring you to see them personally. So then you'd have to come along to

But at least then, if that happens, the matter half way won, especially as I'd teach you iadvance exactly how you'd need to act with thjudge concerned, of course. What also happenthough, is that there are some judges who

turn me down in advance, and that's worse. Icertainly make several attempts, but still, wehave to forget about them, but at least we caafford to do that as no one judge can pass thdecisive verdict. Then when I've got enoug



judges' signatures on this document I take it tthe judge who's concerned with your case. might even have his signature already, i

which case things develop a bit quicker thathey would do otherwise. But there aren't usually many hold ups from then on, and that's thtime that the defendant can feel most confidenIt's odd, but true, that people feel more conf

dence in this time than they do after they'vbeen acquitted. There's no particular exertioneeded now. When he has the document asseting the defendant's innocence, guaranteed by

number of other judges, the judge can acquyou without any worries, and although therare still several formalities to be gone througthere's no doubt that that's what he'll do as favour to me and several other acquaintance

You, however, walk out the court and you'rfree." "So, then I'll be free," said K., hesitantly"That's right," said the painter, "but only apparently free or, to put it a better way, temporarly free, as the most junior judges, the ones



know, they don't have the right to give the finacquittal. Only the highest judge can do that, ithe court that's quite out of reach for you, fo

me and for all of us. We don't know how thinglook there and, incidentally, we don't want tknow. The right to acquit people is a major prvilege and our judges don't have it, but they dhave the right to free people from the indic

ment. That's to say, if they're freed in this wathen for the time being the charge is withdrawbut it's still hanging over their heads and it only takes an order from higher up to bring

back into force. And as I'm in such good contawith the court I can also tell you how the difference between absolute and apparent acquittis described, just in a superficial way, in thdirectives to the court offices. If there's an abso

lute acquittal all proceedings should stop, evrything disappears from the process, not juthe indictment but the trial and even the acquital disappears, everything just disappears. Witan apparent acquittal it's different. When tha



happens, nothing has changed except that thcase for your innocence, for your acquittal anthe grounds for the acquittal have been mad

stronger. Apart from that, proceedings go on abefore, the court offices continue their businesand the case gets passed to higher courts, gepassed back down to the lower courts and son, backwards and forwards, sometimes faste

sometimes slower, to and fro. It's impossible tknow exactly what's happening while this going on. Seen from outside it can sometimeseem that everything has been long since fo

gotten, the documents have been lost and thacquittal is complete. No-one familiar with thcourt would believe it. No documents ever glost, the court forgets nothing. One day - noone expects it - some judge or other picks u

the documents and looks more closely at themhe notices that this particular case is still activand orders the defendant's immediate arresI've been talking here as if there's a long delabetween apparent acquittal and re-arrest, that



quite possible and I do know of cases like thabut it's just as likely that the defendant goehome after he's been acquitted and finds some

body there waiting to re-arrest him. Then, ocourse, his life as a free man is at an end." "Andoes the trial start over again?" asked K., finding it hard to believe. "The trial will alwaystart over again," said the painter, "but there i

once again as before, the possibility of gettinan apparent acquittal. Once again, the accusehas to muster all his strength and mustn't givup." The painter said that last phrase possibl

as a result of the impression that K., whosshoulders had dropped somewhat, gave ohim. "But to get a second acquittal," asked K., aif in anticipation of further revelations by thpainter, "is that not harder to get than the fir

time?" "As far as that's concerned," answerethe painter, "there's nothing you can say focertain. You mean, do you, that the seconarrest would have an adverse influence on thjudge and the verdict he passes on the defen



dant? That's not how it happens. When the aquittal is passed the judges are already awarthat re-arrest is likely. So when it happens

has hardly any effect. But there are countlesother reasons why the judges' mood and thelegal acumen in the case can be altered, anefforts to obtain the second acquittal must threfore be suited to the new conditions, and ge

nerally just as vigorous as the first." "But thsecond acquittal will once again not be finalsaid K., shaking his head. "Of course not," saithe painter, "the second acquittal is followed b

the third arrest, the third acquittal by the fourtarrest and so on. That's what is meant by thterm apparent acquittal." K. was silent. "Yoclearly don't think an apparent acquittal offermuch advantage," said the painter, "perhap

deferment would suit you better. Would yolike me to explain what deferment is about?" Knodded. The painter had leant back and spreahimself out in his chair, his nightshirt was widopen, he had pushed his hand inside and wa



stroking his breast and his sides. "Defermentsaid the painter, looking vaguely in front ohimself for a while as if trying to find a perfec

tly appropriate explanation, "deferment consists of keeping proceedings permanently itheir earliest stages. To do that, the accused anthose helping him need to keep in continuoupersonal contact with the court, especially thos

helping him. I repeat, this doesn't require smuch effort as getting an apparent acquittabut it probably requires a lot more attentionYou must never let the trial out of your sigh

you have to go and see the appropriate judge aregular intervals as well as when something iparticular comes up and, whatever you do, yohave to try and remain friendly with him; you don't know the judge personally you hav

to influence him through the judges you dknow, and you have to do it without giving uon the direct discussions. As long as you donfail to do any of these things you can be reasonably sure the trial won't get past its first sta



ges. The trial doesn't stop, but the defendant almost as certain of avoiding conviction as he'd been acquitted. Compared with an appa

rent acquittal, deferment has the advantagthat the defendant's future is less uncertainhe's safe from the shock of being suddenly rearrested and doesn't need to fear the exertionand stress involved in getting an apparent a

quittal just when everything else in his lifwould make it most difficult. Deferment doehave certain disadvantages of its own thoughtoo, and they shouldn't be under-estimated.

don't mean by this that the defendant is nevefree, he's never free in the proper sense of thword with an apparent acquittal either. Thereanother disadvantage. Proceedings can't bprevented from moving forward unless ther

are some at least ostensible reasons given. Ssomething needs to seem to be happeninwhen looked at from the outside. This meanthat from time to time various injunctions havto be obeyed, the accused has to be questioned



investigations have to take place and so on. Thtrial's been artificially constrained inside a tincircle, and it has to be continuously spun roun

within it. And that, of course, brings with certain unpleasantnesses for the accused, alhough you shouldn't imagine they're all thbad. All of this is just for show, the interrogtions, for instance, they're only very short,

you ever don't have the time or don't feel likgoing to them you can offer an excuse, witsome judges you can even arrange the injuntions together a long time in advance, in essen

ce all it means is that, as the accused, you havto report to the judge from time to time." Evewhile the painter was speaking those lawords K. had laid his coat over his arm anhad stood up. Immediately, from outside th

door, there was a cry of 'He's standing unow!'. "Are you leaving already?" asked thpainter, who had also stood up. "It must be thair that's driving you out. I'm very sorry abouthat. There's still a lot I need to tell you. I had t



put everything very briefly but I hope at least was all clear." "Oh yes," said K., whose heawas aching from the effort of listening. Despi

this affirmation the painter summed it all uonce more, as if he wanted to give K. somehing to console him on his way home. "Bothave in common that they prevent the defendant being convicted," he said. "But they als

prevent his being properly acquitted," said Kquietly, as if ashamed to acknowledge i"You've got it, in essence," said the paintequickly. K. placed his hand on his winter ove

coat but could not bring himself to put it onMost of all he would have liked to pack everyhing together and run out to the fresh air. Noeven the girls could induce him to put his coaon, even though they were already loudly t

lling each other that he was doing so. The painter still had to interpret K.'s mood in some wayso he said, "I expect you've deliberately avoded deciding between my suggestions yeThat's good. I would even have advised again



making a decision straight away. There's nmore than a hair's breadth of difference beween the advantages and disadvantages. Eve

rything has to be carefully weighed up. But thmost important thing is you shouldn't lose tomuch time." "I'll come back here again soonsaid K., who had suddenly decided to put hfrock coat on, threw his overcoat over h

shoulder and hurried over to the door behinwhich the girls now began to scream. Kthought he could even see the screaming girthrough the door. "Well, you'll have to kee

your word," said the painter, who had not followed him, "otherwise I'll come to the bank task about it myself." "Will you open this doofor me," said K. pulling at the handle which, ahe noticed from the resistance, was being hel

tightly by the girls on the other side. "Do yowant to be bothered by the girls?" asked thpainter. "It's better if you use the other waout," he said, pointing to the door behind thbed. K. agreed to this and jumped back to th



bed. But instead of opening that door the painter crawled under the bed and from undeneath it asked K., "Just a moment more, woul

you not like to see a picture I could sell to youK. did not want to be impolite, the painter really had taken his side and promised to help himmore in the future, and because of K.'s forgefulness there had been no mention of any pay

ment for the painter's help, so K. could not turhim down now and allowed him to show himthe picture, even though he was quivering witimpatience to get out of the studio. From unde

the bed, the painter withdrew a pile of unframed paintings. They were so covered in duthat when the painter tried to blow it off thone on top the dust swirled around in front oK.'s eyes, robbing him of breath for some tim

"Moorland landscape," said the painter passinthe picture to K. It showed two sickly treewell separated from each other in dark grass. Ithe background there was a multi-colouresunset. "That's nice," said K. "I'll buy it." K. ex



pressed himself in this curt way without anthought, so he was glad when the painter dinot take this amiss and picked up a secon

painting from the floor. "This is a counterpato the first picture," said the painter. Perhaps had been intended as a counterpart, but therwas not the slightest difference to be seen beween it and the first picture, there were th

trees, there the grass and there the sunset. Buthis was of little importance to K. "They arbeautiful landscapes," he said, "I'll buy themboth and hang them in my office." "You seem t

like this subject," said the painter, picking up third painting, "good job I've still got anothesimilar picture here." The picture though, wanot similar, rather it was exactly the sammoorland landscape. The painter was fully ex

ploiting this opportunity to sell off his old pictures. "I'll take this one too," said K. "Howmuch do the three paintings cost?" "We can talabout that next time," said the painter. "You'rin a hurry now, and we'll still be in contac



And besides, I'm glad you like the paintings, Igive you all the paintings I've got down herThey're all moorland landscapes, I've painted

lot of moorland landscapes. A lot of peopdon't like that sort of picture because they'rtoo gloomy, but there are others, and you'rone of them, who love gloomy themes." But Kwas not in the mood to hear about the profe

sional experiences of this painter cum begga"Wrap them all up!" he called out, interruptinthe painter as he was speaking, "my servanwill come to fetch them in the morning." "Th

re's no need for that," said the painter. "I expeI can find a porter for you who can go with yonow." And, at last, he leant over the bed anunlocked the door. "Just step on the bed, donworry about that," said the painter, "that's wha

everyone does who comes in here." Even wihout this invitation, K. had shown no compuntion in already placing his foot in the middle othe bed covers, then he looked out through thopen door and drew his foot back again. "Wh



is that?" he asked the painter. "What are you ssurprised at?" he asked, surprised in his turn"Those are court offices. Didn't you know ther

are court offices here? There are court offices ialmost every attic, why should this building bany different? Even my studio is actually one othe court offices but the court put it at my diposal." It was not so much finding court office

even here that shocked K., he was mainly shoked at himself, at his own naïvety in court maters. It seemed to him that one of the most basrules governing how a defendant should beha

ve was always to be prepared, never allow suprises, never to look, unsuspecting, to the righwhen the judge stood beside him to his leftand this was the very basic rule that he wacontinually violating. A long corridor extende

in from of him, air blew in from it which, compared with the air in the studio, was refreshinThere were benches set along each side of thcorridor just as in the waiting area for the offiche went to himself. There seemed to be precis



rules governing how offices should be equipped. There did not seem to be many peopvisiting the offices that day. There was a ma

there, half sitting, half laying, his face was buried in his arm on the bench and he seemed tbe sleeping; another man was standing in thhalf-dark at the end of the corridor. K. nowclimbed over the bed, the painter followed him

with the pictures. They soon came across a sevant of the court - K. was now able to recognisall the servants of the court from the gold butons they wore on their civilian clothes below

the normal buttons - and the painter instructehim to go with K. carrying the pictures. Kstaggered more than he walked, his handkechief pressed over his mouth. They had nearlreached the exit when the girls stormed in o

them, so K. had not been able to avoid themThey had clearly seen that the second door othe studio had been opened and had gonaround to impose themselves on him from thside. "I can't come with you any further!" calle



out the painter with a laugh as the girls pressein. "Goodbye, and don't hesitate too long!" Kdid not even look round at him. Once on th

street he took the first cab he came across. Hnow had to get rid of the servant, whose golbutton continually caught his eye even if caught no-one else's. As a servant, the servanof the court was going to sit on the coach-bo

But K. chased him down from there. It was aready well into the afternoon when K. arrivein front of the bank. He would have liked tleave the pictures in the cab but feared ther

might be some occasion when he would havto let the painter see he still had them. So hhad the pictures taken to his office and lockethem in the lowest drawer of his desk so that hcould at least keep them safe from the deput

director's view for the next few days.



Chapter Eight Block, the businessman Dismissing the lawyer

K. had at last made the decision to withdrawhis defence from the lawyer. It was impossibto remove his doubts as to whether this was thright decision, but this was outweighed by h

belief in its necessity. This decision, on the dahe intended to go to see the lawyer, took a loof the strength he needed for his work, he woked exceptionally slowly, he had to remain i

his office a long time, and it was already paten o'clock when he finally stood in front of thlawyer's front door. Even before he rang hconsidered whether it might not be better tgive the lawyer notice by letter or telephone,

personal conversation would certainly be verdifficult. Nonetheless, K. did not actually wanto do without it, if he gave notice by any othemeans it would be received in silence or with

few formulated words, and unless Leni coul



discover anything K. would never learn howthe lawyer had taken his dismissal and what iconsequences might be, in the lawyer's no

unimportant opinion. But sitting in front of himand taken by surprise by his dismissal, Kwould be able easily to infer everything hwanted from the lawyer's face and behavioueven if he could not be induced to say ver

much. It was not even out of the question thaK. might, after all, be persuaded that it woulbe best to leave his defence to the lawyer anwithdraw his dismissal.

As usual, there was at first no response to K.ring at the door. "Leni could be a bit quickerthought K. But he could at least be glad therwas nobody else interfering as usually happe

ned, be it the man in his nightshirt or anyonelse who might bother him. As K. pressed othe button for the second time he looked bacat the other door, but this time it, too, remaineclosed. At last, two eyes appeared at the spy



hatch in the lawyer's door, although they weren't Leni's eyes. Someone unlocked the doobut kept himself pressed against it as he calle

back inside, "It's him!", and only then did hopen the door properly. K. pushed against thdoor, as behind him he could already hear thkey being hurriedly turned in the lock of thdoor to the other flat. When the door in front o

him finally opened, he stormed straight into thhallway. Through the corridor which led beween the rooms he saw Leni, to whom thwarning cry of the door opener had been dire

ted, still running away in her nightshirt. Hlooked at her for a moment and then lookeround at the person who had opened the dooIt was a small, wizened man with a full beardhe held a candle in his hand. "Do you wor

here?" asked K. "No," answered the man, don't belong here at all, the lawyer is only representing me, I'm here on legal business"Without your coat?" asked K., indicating thman's deficiency of dress with a gesture of h



hand. "Oh, do forgive me!" said the man, anhe looked at himself in the light of the candhe was holding as if he had not known abou

his appearance until then. "Is Leni your lover?asked K. curtly. He had set his legs slightlapart, his hands, in which he held his hat, werbehind his back. Merely by being in possessioof a thick overcoat he felt his advantage ove

this thin little man. "Oh God," he said andshocked, raised one hand in front of his face aif in defence, "no, no, what can you be thinking?" "You look honest enough," said K. with

smile, "but come along anyway." K. indicatewith his hat which way the man was to go anlet him go ahead of him. "What is your namthen?" asked K. on the way. "Block. I'm a busnessman," said the small man, twisting himse

round as he thus introduced himself, althougK. did not allow him to stop moving. "Is thyour real name?" asked K. "Of course it is," wathe man's reply, "why do you doubt it?" thought you might have some reason to kee



your name secret," said K. He felt himself amuch at liberty as is normally only felt in foreign parts when speaking with people of lo

wer standing, keeping everything about himself to himself, speaking only casually about thinterests of the other, able to raise him to a levabove one's own, but also able, at will, to lehim drop again. K. stopped at the door of th

lawyer's office, opened it and, to the businesman who had obediently gone ahead, called"Not so fast! Bring some light here!" K. thoughLeni might have hidden in here, he let the bu

sinessman search in every corner, but the roomwas empty. In front of the picture of the judgK. took hold of the businessman's braces tstop him moving on. "Do you know him?" hasked, pointing upwards with his finger. Th

businessman lifted the candle, blinked as hlooked up and said, "It's a judge." "An impotant judge?" asked K., and stood to the side anin front of the businessman so that he coulobserve what impression the picture had o



him. The businessman was looking up in admration. "He's an important judge." "You donhave much insight," said K. "He is the lowest o

the lowest examining judges." "I remembenow," said the businessman as he lowered thcandle, "that's what I've already been told"Well of course you have," called out K., "Iforgotten about it, of course you would alread

have been told." "But why, why?" asked thbusinessman as he moved forwards towardthe door, propelled by the hands of K. Outsidin the corridor K. said, "You know where Leni

hidden, do you?" "Hidden?" said the businesman, "No, but she might be in the kitchen cooking soup for the lawyer." "Why didn't you sathat immediately?" asked K. "I was going ttake you there, but you called me back again

answered the businessman, as if confused bthe contradictory commands. "You think you'rvery clever, don't you," said K, "now take mthere!" K. had never been in the kitchen, it wasurprisingly big and very well equipped. Th



stove alone was three times bigger than normstoves, but it was not possible to see any detabeyond this as the kitchen was at the time illu

minated by no more than a small lamp hanginby the entrance. At the stove stood Leni, in white apron as always, breaking eggs into a postanding on a spirit lamp. "Good evening, Josef," she said with a glance sideways. "Goo

evening," said K., pointing with one hand to chair in a corner which the businessman was tsit on, and he did indeed sit down on it. Khowever went very close behind Leni's back

leant over her shoulder and asked, "Who is thman?" Leni put one hand around K. as she strred the soup with the other, she drew himforward toward herself and said, "He's a pitifucharacter, a poor businessman by the name o

Block. Just look at him." The two of them looked back over their shoulders. The businesman was sitting on the chair that K. had direted him to, he had extinguished the candwhose light was no longer needed and presse



on the wick with his fingers to stop the smok"You were in your nightshirt," said K., puttinhis hand on her head and turning it back to

wards the stove. She was silent. "Is he youlover?" asked K. She was about to take hold othe pot of soup, but K. took both her hands ansaid, "Answer me!" She said, "Come into thoffice, I'll explain everything to you." "No," sai

K., "I want you to explain it here." She put hearms around him and wanted to kiss him. Kthough, pushed her away and said, "I donwant you to kiss me now." "Josef," said Len

looking at K. imploringly but frankly in theyes, "you're not going to be jealous of MBlock now, are you? Rudi," she then said, tuning to the businessman, "help me out will youI'm being suspected of something, you can se

that, leave the candle alone." It had looked athough Mr. Block had not been paying attention but he had been following closely. "I doneven know why you might be jealous," he saiingenuously. "Nor do I, actually," said K., loo



king at the businessman with a smile. Lenlaughed out loud and while K. was not payinattention took the opportunity of embracin

him and whispering, "Leave him alone, nowyou can see what sort of person he is. I've beehelping him a little bit because he's an impotant client of the lawyer's, and no other reasonAnd what about you? Do you want to speak t

the lawyer at this time of day? He's very unwetoday, but if you want I'll tell him you're herBut you can certainly spend the night with mIt's so long since you were last here, even th

lawyer has been asking about you. Don't nglect your case! And I've got some things to teyou that I've learned about. But now, beforanything else, take your coat off!" She helpehim off with his coat, took the hat off his head

ran with the things into the hallway to hanthem up, then she ran back and saw to thsoup. "Do you want me to tell him you're herstraight away or take him his soup first?" "Tehim I'm here first," said K. He was in a ba



mood, he had originally intended a detailediscussion of his business with Leni, especiallthe question of his giving the lawyer notice, bu

now he no longer wanted to because of the presence of the businessman. Now he considerehis affair too important to let this little busnessman take part in it and perhaps changsome of his decisions, and so he called Len

back even though she was already on her wato the lawyer. "Bring him his soup first," hsaid, "I want him to get his strength up for thdiscussion with me, he'll need it." "You're

client of the lawyer's too, aren't you," said thbusinessman quietly from his corner as if hwere trying to find this out. It was not, however, taken well. "What business is that oyours?" said K., and Leni said, "Will you b

quiet. - I'll take him his soup first then, shall IAnd she poured the soup into a dish. "The onlworry then is that he might go to sleep sooafter he's eaten." "What I've got to say to himwill keep him awake," said K., who still wante



to intimate that he intended some importannegotiations with the lawyer, he wanted Leni task him what it was and only then to ask he

advice. But instead, she just promptly carrieout the order he had given her. When she wenover to him with the dish she deliberatelbrushed against him and whispered, "I'll tehim you're here as soon as he's eaten the sou

so that I can get you back as soon as possible"Just go," said K., "just go." "Be a bit morfriendly," she said and, still holding the dishturned completely round once more in th

doorway.

K. watched her as she went; the decision hafinally been made that the lawyer was to bdismissed, it was probably better that he ha

not been able to discuss the matter any morwith Leni beforehand; she hardly understoothe complexity of the matter, she would cetainly have advised him against it and perhapwould even have prevented him from dismi



sing the lawyer this time, he would have remained in doubt and unease and eventuallhave carried out his decision after a while any

way as this decision was something he coulnot avoid. The sooner it was carried out thmore harm would be avoided. And moreoveperhaps the businessman had something to saon the matter.

K. turned round, the businessman hardly notced it as he was about to stand up. "Stay wheryou are," said K. and pulled up a chair besidhim. "Have you been a client of the lawyer's foa long time?" asked K. "Yes," said the busnessman, "a very long time." "How many yearhas he been representing you so far, then?" aked K. "I don't know how you mean," said th

businessman, "he's been my business lawyer -buy and sell cereals - he's been my busineslawyer since I took the business over, and thatabout twenty years now, but perhaps you meamy own trial and he's been representing me i



that since it started, and that's been more thafive years. Yes, well over five years," he theadded, pulling out an old briefcase, "I've go

everything written down; I can tell you the exact dates if you like. It's so hard to remembeeverything. Probably, my trial's been going omuch longer than that, it started soon after thdeath of my wife, and that's been more tha

five and a half years now." K. moved in closeto him. "So the lawyer takes on ordinary legbusiness, does he?" he asked. This combinatioof criminal and commercial business seeme

surprisingly reassuring for K. "Oh yes," said thbusinessman, and then he whispered, "Theeven say he's more efficient in jurisprudencthan he is in other matters." But then he seemeto regret saying this, and he laid a hand on K.

shoulder and said, "Please don't betray me thim, will you." K. patted his thigh to reassurhim and said, "No, I don't betray people." "Hcan be so vindictive, you see," said the busnessman. "I'm sure he won't do anythin



against such a faithful client as you," said K"Oh, he might do," said the businessman"when he gets cross it doesn't matter who it i

and anyway, I'm not really faithful to him"How's that then?" asked K. "I'm not sure should tell you about it," said the businessmahesitantly. "I think it'll be alright," said K. "Wethen," said the businessman, "I'll tell you abou

some of it, but you'll have to tell me a secrtoo, then we can support each other with thlawyer." "You are very careful," said K., "but Itell you a secret that will set your mind comple

tely at ease. Now tell me, in what way have yobeen unfaithful to the lawyer?" "I've …" saithe businessman hesitantly, and in a tone as he were confessing something dishonourabl"I've taken on other lawyers besides him

"That's not so serious," said K., a little disappointed. "It is, here," said the businessman, whhad had some difficulty breathing since makinhis confession but who now, after hearing K.comment, began to feel more trust for him



"That's not allowed. And it's allowed least of ato take on petty lawyers when you've alreadgot a proper one. And that's just what I hav

done, besides him I've got five petty lawyers"Five!" exclaimed K., astonished at this numbe"Five lawyers besides this one?" The businesman nodded. "I'm even negotiating with a sixtone." "But why do you need so many lawyers?

asked K. "I need all of them," said the busnessman. "Would you mind explaining that tme?" asked K. "I'd be glad to," said the busnessman. "Most of all, I don't want to lose m

case, well that's obvious. So that means mustn't neglect anything that might be of use tme; even if there's very little hope of a particular thing being of any use I can't just throw away. So everything I have I've put to use i

my case. I've taken all the money out of mbusiness, for example, the offices for my busness used to occupy nearly a whole floor, bunow all I need is a little room at the back wherI work with one apprentice. It wasn't just usin



up the money that caused the difficulty, ocourse, it was much more to do with me noworking at the business as much as I used to.

you want to do something about your trial yodon't have much time for anything else." "Syou're also working at the court yourself?" aked K. "That's just what I want to learn morabout." "I can't tell you very much about that

said the businessman, "at first I tried to do thatoo but I soon had to give it up again. It wearyou out too much, and it's really not much usAnd it turned out to be quite impossible t

work there yourself and to negotiate, at leafor me it was. It's a heavy strain there just siting and waiting. You know yourself what thair is like in those offices." "How do you knowI've been there, then?" asked K. "I was in th

waiting room myself when you went through"What a coincidence that is!" exclaimed K., totally engrossed and forgetting how ridiculous thbusinessman had seemed to him earlier. "Syou saw me! You were in the waiting room



when I went through. Yes, I did go through one time." "It isn't such a big coincidence," saithe businessman, "I'm there nearly every day

"I expect I'll have to go there quite often mysenow," said K., "although I can hardly expect tbe shown the same respect as I was then. Theall stood up for me. They must have thoughtwas a judge." "No," said the businessman, "w

were greeting the servant of the court. Wknew you were a defendant. That sort of newspreads very quickly." "So you already knewabout that," said K., "the way I behaved mu

have seemed very arrogant to you. Did yocriticise me for it afterwards?" "No," said thbusinessman, "quite the opposite. That was justupidity." "What do you mean, 'stupidity'asked K. "Why are you asking about it?" sai

the businessman in some irritation. "You stidon't seem to know the people there and yomight take it wrong. Don't forget in proceedings like this there are always lots of differenthings coming up to talk about, things that yo



just can't understand with reason alone, yojust get too tired and distracted for most thingand so, instead, people rely on superstition. I'm

talking about the others, but I'm no better myself. One of these superstitions, for example, that you can learn a lot about the outcome of defendant's case by looking at his face, especially the shape of his lips. There are lots who b

lieve that, and they said they could see from thshape of your lips that you'd definitely bfound guilty very soon. I repeat that all this just a ridiculous superstition, and in most case

it's completely disproved by the facts, but wheyou live in that society it's hard to hold yourseback from beliefs like that. Just think how muceffect that superstition can have. You spoke tone of them there, didn't you? He was hardl

able to give you an answer. There are lots othings there that can make you confused, ocourse, but one of them, for him, was the appearance of your lips. He told us all later hthought he could see something in your lip



that meant he'd be convicted himself." "On mlips?" asked K., pulling out a pocket mirror anexamining himself. "I can see nothing speci

about my lips. Can you?" "Nor can I," said thbusinessman, "nothing at all." "These people arso superstitious!" exclaimed K. "Isn't that whatjust told you?" asked the businessman. "Do yothen have that much contact with each othe

exchanging each other's opinions?" said K. "I'vkept myself completely apart so far." "Thedon't normally have much contact with eacother," said the businessman, "that would b

impossible, there are so many of them. Anthey don't have much in common either. If group of them ever thinks they have founsomething in common it soon turns out thewere mistaken. There's nothing you can do as

group where the court's concerned. Each case examined separately, the court is very painstaking. So there's nothing to be achieved by foming into a group, only sometimes an indivdual will achieve something in secret; and it



only when that's been done the others learabout it; nobody knows how it was done. Sthere's no sense of togetherness, you meet peo

ple now and then in the waiting rooms, but wdon't talk much there. The superstitious beliewere established a long time ago and thespread all by themselves." "I saw those gentlemen in the waiting room," said K., "it seeme

so pointless for them to be waiting in that way"Waiting is not pointless," said the businesman, "it's only pointless if you try and interferyourself. I told you just now I've got five law

yers besides this one. You might think - thought it myself at first - you might thinkcould leave the whole thing entirely up to themnow. That would be entirely wrong. I can leavit up to them less than when I had just the on

Maybe you don't understand that, do you"No," said K., and to slow the businessmadown, who had been speaking too fast, he laihis hand on the businessman's to reassure him"but I'd like just to ask you to speak a little mo



re slowly, these are many very importanthings for me, and I can't follow exactly whayou're saying." "You're quite right to remin

me of that," said the businessman, "you're newto all this, a junior. Your trial is six months oldisn't it? Yes, I've heard about it. Such a newcase! But I've already thought all these thingthrough countless times, to me they're the mo

obvious things in the world." "You must bglad your trial has already progressed so faare you?" asked K., he did not wish to ask drectly how the businessman's affairs stood, bu

received no clear answer anyway. "Yes, I'vbeen working at my trial for five years nowsaid the businessman as his head sank, "thatno small achievement." Then he was silent for while. K. listened to hear whether Leni was o

her way back. On the one hand he did not wanher to come back too soon as he still had manquestions to ask and did not want her to finhim in this intimate discussion with the busnessman, but on the other hand it irritated him



that she stayed so long with the lawyer wheK. was there, much longer than she needed tgive him his soup. "I still remember it exactly

the businessman began again, and K. immediately gave him his full attention, "when my caswas as old as yours is now. I only had this onlawyer at that time but I wasn't very satisfiewith him." Now I'll find out everythin

thought K., nodding vigorously as if he coulthereby encourage the businessman to say everything worth knowing. "My case," the busnessman continued, "didn't move on at all, th

re were some hearings that took place and went to every one of them, collected materialhanded all my business books to the court which I later found was entirely unnecessary -ran back and forth to the lawyer, and he sub

mitted various documents to the court too …"Various documents?" asked K. "Yes, thatright," said the businessman. "That's very important for me," said K., "in my case he's stiworking on the first set of documents. He sti





Now, I don't mean to criticise the lawyer's worwith all of this, and the document I read waonly one of many, but even so, and this is so

mething I will say, at that time I couldn't seany progress in my trial at all." "And what soof progress had you been hoping for?" asked K"That's a very sensible question," said the busnessman with a smile, "it's only very rare tha

you see any progress in these proceedings aall. But I didn't know that then. I'm a businesman, much more in those days than now, wanted to see some tangible progress, it shoul

have all been moving to some conclusion or aleast should have been moving on in some waaccording to the rules. Instead of which therwere just more hearings, and most of themwent through the same things anyway; I had a

the answers off pat like in a church servicthere were messengers from the court cominto me at work several times a week, or thecame to me at home or anywhere else thecould find me; and that was very disturbing o



course (but at least now things are better in tharespect, it's much less disturbing when thecontact you by telephone), and rumours abou

my trial even started to spread among some othe people I do business with, and especiallmy relations, so I was being made to suffer imany different ways but there was still not thslightest sign that even the first hearing woul

take place soon. So I went to the lawyer ancomplained about it. He explained it all to mat length, but refused to do anything I askefor, no-one has any influence on the way th

trial proceeds, he said, to try and insist on it iany of the documents submitted - like I waasking - was simply unheard of and would dharm to both him and me. I thought to myselWhat this lawyer can't or won't do anothe

lawyer will. So I looked round for other lawyers. And before you say anything: none othem asked for a definite date for the main triaand none of them got one, and anyway, apafrom one exception which I'll talk about in



minute, it really is impossible, that's one thinthis lawyer didn't mislead me about; but besdes, I had no reason to regret turning to othe

lawyers. Perhaps you've already heard how DHuld talks about the petty lawyers, he probablmade them sound very contemptible to youand he's right, they are contemptible. But whehe talks about them and compares them wit

himself and his colleagues there's a small errorunning through what he says, and, just foyour interest, I'll tell you about it. When htalks about the lawyers he mixes with he se

them apart by calling them the 'great lawyersThat's wrong, anyone can call himself 'great' he wants to, of course, but in this case only thusage of the court can make that distinctionYou see, the court says that besides the pett

lawyers there are also minor lawyers and grealawyers. This one and his colleagues are onlminor lawyers, and the difference in rank beween them and the great lawyers, who I'vonly ever heard about and never seen, is in



comparably greater than between the minolawyers and the despised petty lawyers." "Thgreat lawyers?" asked K. "Who are they then

How do you contact them?" "You've neveheard about them, then?" said the businessman"There's hardly anyone who's been accusewho doesn't spend a lot of time dreaming abouthe great lawyers once he's heard about them

It's best if you don't let yourself be misled ithat way. I don't know who the great lawyerare, and there's probably no way of contactinthem. I don't know of any case I can talk abou

with certainty where they've taken any parThey do defend a lot of people, but you canget hold of them by your own efforts, they onldefend those who they want to defend. Anddon't suppose they ever take on cases tha

haven't already got past the lower courtAnyway, it's best not to think about them, as you do it makes the discussions with the othelawyers, all their advice and all that they dmanage to achieve, seem so unpleasant an



useless, I had that experience myself, just wanted to throw everything away and lay at homin bed and hear nothing more about it. But tha

of course, would be the stupidest thing yocould do, and you wouldn't be left in peace ibed for very long either." "So you weren't thinking about the great lawyers at that time?" aked K. "Not for very long," said the busines

man, and smiled again, "you can't forget abouthem entirely, I'm afraid, especially in the nighwhen these thoughts come so easily. But I wanted immediate results in those days, so I wen

to the petty lawyers."

"Well look at you two sat huddled togethercalled Leni as she came back with the dish anstood in the doorway. They were indeed sa

close together, if either of them turned his heaeven slightly it would have knocked against thother's, the businessman was not only versmall but also sat hunched down, so that Kwas also forced to bend down low if he wante



to hear everything. "Not quite yet!" called ouK., to turn Leni away, his hand, still resting othe businessman's hand, twitching with impa

tience. "He wanted me to tell him about mtrial," said the businessman to Leni. "Carry onthen, carry on," she said. She spoke to the busnessman with affection but, at the same timwith condescension. K. did not like that, he ha

begun to learn that the man was of some valuafter all, he had experience at least, and he wawilling to share it. Leni was probably wronabout him. He watched her in irritation as Len

now took the candle from the businessmanhand - which he had been holding on to all thtime - wiped his hand with her apron and theknelt beside him to scratch off some wax thahad dripped from the candle onto his trouser

"You were about to tell me about the petty lawyers," said K., shoving Leni's hand away witno further comment. "What's wrong with yotoday?" asked Leni, tapped him gently and carried on with what she had been doing. "Ye



the petty lawyers," said the businessman, puting his hand to his brow as if thinking hard. Kwanted to help him and said, "You wante

immediate results and so went to the pettlawyers." "Yes, that's right," said the businesman, but did not continue with what he'd beesaying. "Maybe he doesn't want to speak abouit in front of Leni," thought K., suppressing h

impatience to hear the rest straight away, anstopped trying to press him.

"Have you told him I'm here?" he asked Len"Course I have," she said, "he's waiting for youLeave Block alone now, you can talk to Bloclater, he'll still be here." K. still hesitated. "Youstill be here?" he asked the businessman, wanting to hear the answer from him and not wan

ting Leni to speak about the businessman as he weren't there, he was full of secret resenment towards Leni today. And once more was only Leni who answered. "He often sleephere." "He sleeps here?" exclaimed K., he ha



thought the businessman would just wait therfor him while he quickly settled his busineswith the lawyer, and then they would leav

together to discuss everything thoroughly anundisturbed. "Yes," said Leni, "not everyonelike you, Josef, allowed to see the lawyer at antime you like. Do don't even seem surprisethat the lawyer, despite being ill, still receive

you at eleven o'clock at night. You take it fatoo much for granted, what your friends do foyou. Well, your friends, or at least I do, we likto do things for you. I don't want or need an

more thanks than that you're fond of me"Fond of you?" thought K. at first, and onlthen it occurred to him, "Well, yes, I am fond oher." Nonetheless, what he said, forgetting athe rest, was, "He receives me because I am h

client. If I needed anyone else's help I'd have tbeg and show gratitude whenever I do anyhing." "He's really nasty today, isn't he?" Lenasked the businessman. "Now it's me who's nohere," thought K., and nearly lost his tempe



with the businessman when, with the samrudeness as Leni, he said, "The lawyer also haother reasons to receive him. His case is muc

more interesting than mine. And it's only in iearly stages too, it probably hasn't progressevery far so the lawyer still likes to deal withim. That'll all change later on." "Yeah, yeahsaid Leni, looking at the businessman an

laughing. "He doesn't half talk!" she said, tuning to face K. "You can't believe a word hsays. He's as talkative as he is sweet. Maybthat's why the lawyer can't stand him. At leas

he only sees him when he's in the right moodI've already tried hard to change that but itimpossible. Just think, there are times whentell him Block's here and he doesn't receive himuntil three days later. And if Block isn't on th

spot when he's called then everything's lost anit all has to start all over again. That's why I lBlock sleep here, it wouldn't be the first timDr. Huld has wanted to see him in the night. Snow Block is ready for that. Sometimes, whe



he knows Block is still here, he'll even changhis mind about letting him in to see him." Klooked questioningly at the businessman. Th

latter nodded and, although he had spokequite openly with K. earlier, seemed to be confused with shame as he said, "Yes, later on yobecome very dependent on your lawyer." "Heonly pretending to mind," said Leni. "He like

to sleep here really, he's often said so." Shwent over to a little door and shoved it open"Do you want to see his bedroom?" she askedK. went over to the low, windowless room an

looked in from the doorway. The room contaned a narrow bed which filled it completely, sthat to get into the bed you would need tclimb over the bedpost. At the head of the bethere was a niche in the wall where, fastidiou

ly tidy, stood a candle, a bottle of ink, and a pewith a bundle of papers which were probablto do with the trial. "You sleep in the maidroom?" asked K., as he went back to the busnessman. "Leni's let me have it," answered th



businessman, "it has many advantages." K. looked long at him; his first impression of the businessman had perhaps not been right; he ha

experience as his trial had already lasted a lontime, but he had paid a heavy price for thexperience. K. was suddenly unable to bear thsight of the businessman any longer. "Brinhim to bed, then!" he called out to Leni, wh

seemed to understand him. For himself, hwanted to go to the lawyer and, by dismissinhim, free himself from not only the lawyer bualso from Leni and the businessman. But befor

he had reached the door the businessman spoke to him gently. "Excuse me, sir," he said, anK. looked round crossly. "You've forgotteyour promise," said the businessman, streching his hand out to K. imploringly from whe

re he sat. "You were going to tell me a secret"That is true," said K., as he glanced at Lenwho was watching him carefully, to check oher. "So listen; it's hardly a secret now anywayI'm going to see the lawyer now to sack him



"He's sacking him!" yelled the businessmanand he jumped up from his chair and raaround the kitchen with his arms in the air. H

kept on shouting, "He's sacking his lawyerLeni tried to rush at K. but the businessman goin her way so that she shoved him away wither fists. Then, still with her hands balled intfists, she ran after K. who, however, had bee

given a long start. He was already inside thlawyer's room by the time Leni caught up withim. He had almost closed the door behinhimself, but Leni held the door open with he

foot, grabbed his arm and tried to pull himback. But he put such pressure on her writhat, with a sigh, she was forced to release himShe did not dare go into the room straighaway, and K. locked the door with the key.

"I've been waiting for you a very long timesaid the lawyer from his bed. He had been reading something by the light of a candle bunow he laid it onto the bedside table and pu



his glasses on, looking at K. sharply througthem. Instead of apologising K. said, "I'll bleaving again soon." As he had not apologise

the lawyer ignored what K. said, and replied, won't let you in this late again next time." find that quite acceptable," said K. The lawyelooked at him quizzically. "Sit down," he said"As you wish," said K., drawing a chair up t

the bedside table and sitting down. "It seemeto me that you locked the door," said the lawyer. "Yes," said K., "it was because of Leni." Hhad no intention of letting anyone off lightly

But the lawyer asked him, "Was she being importunate again?" "Importunate?" asked K"Yes," said the lawyer, laughing as he did shad a fit of coughing and then, once it had pased, began to laugh again. "I'm sure you mu

have noticed how importunate she can be sometimes," he said, and patted K.'s hand whicK. had rested on the bedside table and whiche now snatched back. "You don't attach mucimportance to it, then," said the lawyer when K





in their usual way of life and, if they have good lawyer looking after them, the tridoesn't get in their way. But there are none

heless those who have experience in these maters who can look at a crowd, however big, antell you which among them is facing a chargHow can they do that, you will ask. My answewill not please you. It is simply that those wh

are facing a charge are the most attractive. cannot be their guilt that makes them attractivas not all of them are guilty - at least that's whaI, as a lawyer, have to say - and nor can it be th

proper punishment that has made them attrative as not all of them are punished, so it caonly be that the proceedings levelled againthem take some kind of hold on them. Whatever the reason, some of these attractive peop

are indeed very attractive. But all of them arattractive, even Block, pitiful worm that he isAs the lawyer finished what he was saying, Kwas fully in control of himself, he had evenodded conspicuously at his last few words i



order to confirm to himself the view he haalready formed; that the lawyer was trying tconfuse him, as he always did, by making g

neral and irrelevant observations, and thus ditract him from the main question of what hwas actually doing for K.'s trial. The lawyemust have noticed that K. was offering himmore resistance than before, as he became s

lent, giving K. the chance to speak himself, anthen, as K. also remained silent, he asked, "Diyou have a particular reason for coming to seme today?" "Yes," said K., putting his hand u

to slightly shade his eyes from the light of thcandle so that he could see the lawyer better, wanted to tell you that I'm withdrawing mrepresentation from you, with immediate efect." "Do I understand you rightly?" asked th

lawyer as he half raised himself in his bed ansupported himself with one hand on the pillow"I think you do," said K., sitting stiffly uprighas if waiting in ambush. "Well we can certainldiscuss this plan of yours," said the lawyer afte



a pause. "It's not a plan any more," said K"That may be," said the lawyer, "but we stimustn't rush anything." He used the word 'we

as if he had no intention of letting K. go freand as if, even if he could no longer represenhim, he could still at least continue as his advser. "Nothing is being rushed," said K., standing slowly up and going behind his chai

"everything has been well thought out anprobably even for too long. The decision is fnal." "Then allow me to say a few words," saithe lawyer, throwing the bed cover to one sid

and sitting on the edge of the bed. His nakedwhite- haired legs shivered in the cold. He aked K. to pass him a blanket from the couch. Kpassed him the blanket and said, "You are running the risk of catching cold for no reason

"The circumstances are important enough," saithe lawyer as he wrapped the bed cover arounthe top half of his body and then the blankearound his legs. "Your uncle is my friend and ithe course of time I've become fond of you a



well. I admit that quite openly. There's nothinin that for me to be ashamed of." It was verunwelcome for K. to hear the old man speak i

this touching way, as it forced him to explaihimself more fully, which he would rather havavoided, and he was aware that it also confused him even though it could never make himreverse his decision. "Thank you for feeling s

friendly toward me," he said, "and I also realishow deeply involved you've been in my casas deeply as possible for yourself and to brinas much advantage as possible to me. None

heless, I have recently come to the convictiothat it is not enough. I would naturally neveattempt, considering that you are so much oder and more experienced than I am, to convince you of my opinion; if I have ever unintentio

nally done so then I beg your forgiveness, buas you have just said yourself, the circumstances are important enough and it is my beliethat my trial needs to be approached witmuch more vigour than has so far been the ca



se." "I see," said the lawyer, "you've becomimpatient." "I am not impatient," said K., witsome irritation and he stopped paying so muc

attention to his choice of words. "When I fircame here with my uncle you probably noticeI wasn't greatly concerned about my case, anif I wasn't reminded of it by force, as it were,would forget about it completely. But my unc

insisted I should allow you to represent me anI did so as a favour to him. I could have expeted the case to be less of a burden than it habeen, as the point of taking on a lawyer is tha

he should take on some of its weight. But whaactually happened was the opposite. Before, thtrial was never such a worry for me as it habeen since you've been representing me. WheI was by myself I never did anything about m

case, I was hardly aware of it, but then, oncthere was someone representing me, everyhing was set for something to happen, I waalways, without cease, waiting for you to dsomething, getting more and more tense, bu



you did nothing. I did get some informatioabout the court from you that I probably coulnot have got anywhere else, but that can't b

enough when the trial, supposedly in secret, getting closer and closer to me." K. had pushethe chair away and stood erect, his hands in thpockets of his frock coat. "After a certain poinin the proceedings," said the lawyer quietly an

calmly, "nothing new of any importance evehappens. So many litigants, at the same stage itheir trials, have stood before me just like yoare now and spoken in the same way." "The

these other litigants," said K., "have all beeright, just as I am. That does not show that I'mnot." "I wasn't trying to show that you wermistaken," said the lawyer, "but I wanted tadd that I expected better judgement from yo

than from the others, especially as I've giveyou more insight into the workings of the couand my own activities than I normally do. Annow I'm forced to accept that, despite everyhing, you have too little trust in me. You don



make it easy for me." How the lawyer wahumiliating himself to K.! He was showing nregard for the dignity of his position, which o

this point, must have been at its most sensitivAnd why did he do that? He did seem to bvery busy as a lawyer as well a rich man, neiher the loss of income nor the loss of a cliencould have been of much importance to him i

themselves. He was moreover unwell anshould have been thinking of passing work oto others. And despite all that he held on tightly to K. Why? Was it something personal fo

his uncle's sake, or did he really see K.'s case aone that was exceptional and hoped to be abto distinguish himself with it, either for K.sake or - and this possibility could never bexcluded - for his friends at the court? It wa

not possible to learn anything by looking ahim, even though K. was scrutinizing him quibrazenly. It could almost be supposed he wadeliberately hiding his thoughts as he waited tsee what effect his words would have. But h



clearly deemed K.'s silence to be favourable fohimself and he continued, "You will have notced the size of my office, but that I don't em

ploy any staff to help me. That used to be quitdifferent, there was a time when several younlawyers were working for me but now I woralone. This is partly to do with changes in thway I do business, in that I concentrate nowa

days more and more on matters such as youown case, and partly to do with the ever deepeunderstanding that I acquire from these legmatters. I found that I could never let anyon

else deal with this sort of work unless I wanteto harm both the client and the job I had takeon. But the decision to do all the work mysehad its obvious result: I was forced to turn amost everyone away who asked me to repr

sent them and could only accept those I waespecially interested in - well there are enougcreatures who leap at every crumb I throwdown, and they're not so very far away. Moimportantly, I became ill from over-work. Bu



despite that I don't regret my decision, quipossibly I should have turned more cases awathan I did, but it did turn out to be entirely ne

cessary for me to devote myself fully to thcases I did take on, and the successful resulshowed that it was worth it. I once read a decription of the difference between representinsomeone in ordinary legal matters and in lega

matters of this sort, and the writer expressed very well. This is what he said: some lawyerlead their clients on a thread until judgement passed, but there are others who immediatel

lift their clients onto their shoulders and carrthem all the way to the judgement and beyondThat's just how it is. But it was quite true wheI said I never regret all this work. But if, as iyour case, they are so fully misunderstood

well, then I come very close to regretting it." Athis talking did more to make K. impatient thato persuade him. From the way the lawyer waspeaking, K. thought he could hear what hcould expect if he gave in, the delays and excu



ses would begin again, reports of how the documents were progressing, how the mood othe court officials had improved, as well as a

the enormous difficulties - in short all that hhad heard so many times before would bbrought out again even more fully, he woultry to mislead K. with hopes that were nevespecified and to make him suffer with threa

that were never clear. He had to put a stop tthat, so he said, "What will you undertake omy behalf if you continue to represent meThe lawyer quietly accepted even this insultin

question, and answered, "I should continuwith what I've already been doing for you"That's just what I thought," said K., "and nowyou don't need to say another word." "I wimake one more attempt," said the lawyer as

whatever had been making K. so annoyed waaffecting him too. "You see, I have the impresion that you have not only misjudged the legassistance I have given you but also that thamisjudgement has led you to behave in th



way, you seem, although you are the accusedto have been treated too well or, to put it a beter way, handled with neglect, with apparen

neglect. Even that has its reason; it is often beter to be in chains than to be free. But I woullike to show you how other defendants artreated, perhaps you will succeed in learninsomething from it. What I will do is I will ca

Block in, unlock the door and sit down herbeside the bedside table." "Be glad to," said Kand did as the lawyer suggested; he was aways ready to learn something new. But to ma

ke sure of himself for any event he added, "buyou do realise that you are no longer to be mlawyer, don't you?" "Yes," said the lawyer. "Buyou can still change your mind today if yowant to." He lay back down in the bed, pulle

the quilt up to his chin and turned to face thwall. Then he rang.

Leni appeared almost the moment he had donso. She looked hurriedly at K. and the lawyer t



try and find out what had happened; she seemed to be reassured by the sight of K. sittincalmly at the lawyer's bed. She smiled an

nodded to K., K. looked blankly back at he"Fetch Block," said the lawyer. But instead ogoing to fetch him, Leni just went to the dooand called out, "Block! To the lawyer!" Thenprobably because the lawyer had turned h

face to the wall and was paying no attentionshe slipped in behind K.'s chair. From then onshe bothered him by leaning forward over thback of the chair or, albeit very tenderly an

carefully, she would run her hands through hhair and over his cheeks. K. eventually tried tstop her by taking hold of one hand, and aftesome resistance Leni let him keep hold of iBlock came as soon as he was called, but h

remained standing in the doorway and seemeto be wondering whether he should enter onot. He raised his eyebrows and lowered hhead as if listening to find out whether the oder to attend the lawyer would be repeated. K



could have encouraged to enter, but he hadecided to make a final break not only with thlawyer but with everything in his home, so h

kept himself motionless. Leni was also silenBlock noticed that at least no-one was chasinhim away, and, on tiptoe, he entered the roomhis face was tense, his hands were clenchebehind his back. He left the door open in cas

he needed to go back again. K. did not eveglance at him, he looked instead only at ththick quilt under which the lawyer could not bseen as he had squeezed up very close to th

wall. Then his voice was heard: "Block herehe asked. Block had already crept some wainto the room but this question seemed to givhim first a shove in the breast and then anothein the back, he seemed about to fall but rema

ned standing, deeply bowed, and said, "At youservice, sir." "What do you want?" asked thlawyer, "you've come at a bad time." "Wasn'tsummoned?" asked Block, more to himself thathe lawyer. He held his hands in front of him



self as protection and would have been readto run away any moment. "You were summoned," said the lawyer, "but you have still com

at a bad time." Then, after a pause he added"You always come at a bad time." When thlawyer started speaking Block had stoppelooking at the bed but stared rather into one othe corners, just listening, as if the light from

the speaker were brighter than Block coulbear to look at. But it was also difficult for himto listen, as the lawyer was speaking into thwall and speaking quickly and quietly. "Woul

you like me to go away again, sir?" asked Bloc"Well you're here now," said the lawyer. "StayIt was as if the lawyer had not done as Blochad wanted but instead threatened him with stick, as now Block really began to shake.

went to see," said the lawyer, "the third judgyesterday, a friend of mine, and slowly broughthe conversation round to the subject of youDo you want to know what he said?" "Oh, yeplease," said Block. The lawyer did not answe



immediately, so Block repeated his request anlowered his head as if about to kneel down. Buthen K. spoke to him: "What do you think you

re doing?" he shouted. Leni had wanted to stohim from calling out and so he took hold of heother hand. It was not love that made himsqueeze it and hold on to it so tightly, she sighed frequently and tried to disengage he

hands from him. But Block was punished foK.'s outburst, as the lawyer asked him, "Who your lawyer?" "You are, sir," said Block. "Anwho besides me?" the lawyer asked. "No-on

besides you, sir," said Block. "And let there bno-one besides me," said the lawyer. Block fullunderstood what that meant, he glowered at Kshaking his head violently. If these actions habeen translated into words they would hav

been coarse insults. K. had been friendly anwilling to discuss his own case with someonlike this! "I won't disturb you any more," saiK., leaning back in his chair. "You can knedown or creep on all fours, whatever you like.



won't bother with you any more." But Blocstill had some sense of pride, at least where Kwas concerned, and he went towards him wa

ving his fists, shouting as loudly as he darewhile the lawyer was there. "You shouldnspeak to me like that, that's not allowed. Whare you insulting me? Especially here in fronof the lawyer, where both of us, you and m

we're only tolerated because of his charityYou're not a better person than me, you've beeaccused of something too, you're facing a chage too. If, in spite of that, you're still a gentle

man then I'm just as much a gentleman as yoare, if not even more so. And I want to be spoken to as a gentleman, especially by you. If yothink being allowed to sit there and quietllisten while I creep on all fours as you put

makes you something better than me, then thre's an old legal saying you ought to bear imind: If you're under suspicion it's better to bmoving than still, as if you're still you can be ithe pan of the scales without knowing it and b



weighed along with your sins." K. said nothinHe merely looked in amazement at this distrated being, his eyes completely still. He had go

ne through such changes in just the last fewhours! Was it the trial that was throwing himfrom side to side in this way and stopped himknowing who was friend and who was foeCould he not see the lawyer was deliberatel

humiliating him and had no other purpose today than to show off his power to K., and pehaps even thereby subjugate K.? But if Blocwas incapable of seeing that, or if he so feare

the lawyer that no such insight would even bof any use to him, how was it that he was eitheso sly or so bold as to lie to the lawyer and conceal from him the fact that he had other lawyerworking on his behalf? And how did he dare t

attack K., who could betray his secret any timhe liked? But he dared even more than this, hwent to the lawyer's bed and began there tmake complaints about K. "Dr. Huld, sir," hsaid, "did you hear the way this man spoke t



me? You can count the length of his trial ihours, and he wants to tell me what to do wheI've been involved in a legal case for five year

He even insults me. He doesn't know anythingbut he insults me, when I, as far as my weaability allows, when I've made a close study ohow to behave with the court, what we oughto do and what the court practices are." "Don

let anyone bother you," said the lawyer, "ando what seems to you to be right." "I will," saiBlock, as if speaking to himself to give himsecourage, and with a quick glance to the side h

kneeled down close beside the bed. "I'm kneling now Dr. Huld, sir," he said. But the lawyeremained silent. With one hand, Block carefullstroked the bed cover. In the silence while hdid so, Leni, as she freed herself from K.

hands, said, "You're hurting me. Let go of mI'm going over to Block." She went over to himand sat on the edge of the bed. Block was verpleased at this and with lively, but silent, getures he immediately urged her to intercede fo



him with the lawyer. It was clear that he desperately needed to be told something by the lawyer, although perhaps only so that he coul

make use of the information with his othelawyers. Leni probably knew very well how thlawyer could be brought round, pointed to hhand and pursed her lips as if making a kisBlock immediately performed the hand-kis

and, at further urging from Leni, repeated twice more. But the lawyer continued to bsilent. Then Leni leant over the lawyer, as shstretched out, the attractive shape of her bod

could be seen, and, bent over close to his facshe stroked his long white hair. That now foced him to give an answer. "I'm rather wary otelling him," said the lawyer, and his heacould be seen shaking slightly, perhaps so tha

he would feel the pressure of Leni's hand beter. Block listened closely with his head lowered, as if by listening he were breaking an oder. "What makes you so wary about it?" askeLeni. K. had the feeling he was listening to



contrived dialogue that had been repeated many times, that would be repeated many timemore, and that for Block alone it would neve

lose its freshness. "What has his behaviour beelike today?" asked the lawyer instead of aanswer. Before Leni said anything she lookedown at Block and watched him a short whias he raised his hands towards her and rubbe

them together imploringly. Finally she gave serious nod, turned back to the lawyer ansaid, "He's been quiet and industrious." Thwas an elderly businessman, a man whos

beard was long, and he was begging a youngirl to speak on his behalf. Even if there wasome plan behind what he did, there was nohing that could reinstate him in the eyes of hfellow man. K. could not understand how th

lawyer could have thought this performancwould win him over. Even if he had done nohing earlier to make him want to leave then thscene would have done so. It was almost humliating even for the onlooker. So these were th



lawyer's methods, which K. fortunately had nobeen exposed to for long, to let the client forgeabout the whole world and leave him with no

hing but the hope of reaching the end of htrial by this deluded means. He was no longerclient, he was the lawyer's dog. If the lawyehad ordered him to crawl under the bed as if were a kennel and to bark out from under i

then he would have done so with enthusiasmK. listened to all of this, testing it and thinkinit over as if he had been given the task of closely observing everything spoken here, inform

higher office about it and write a report. "Anwhat has he been doing all day?" asked thlawyer. "I kept him locked in the maid's roomall day," said Leni, "so that he wouldn't stop mdoing my work. That's where he usually stay

From time to time I looked in through thspyhole to see what he was doing, and eactime he was kneeling on the bed and readinthe papers you gave him, propped up on thwindow sill. That made a good impression o



me; as the window only opens onto an air shaand gives hardly any light. It showed how obedient he is that he was even reading in thos

conditions." "I'm pleased to hear it," said thlawyer. "But did he understand what he wareading?" While this conversation was goinon, Block continually moved his lips and waclearly formulating the answers he hoped Len

would give. "Well I can't give you any certaianswer to that of course," said Leni, "but I coulsee that he was reading thoroughly. He spenall day reading the same page, running his fin

ger along the lines. Whenever I looked in ohim he sighed as if this reading was a lot owork for him. I expect the papers you gave himwere very hard to understand." "Yes," said thlawyer, "they certainly are that. And I reall

don't think he understood anything of themBut they should at least give him some inklinof just how hard a struggle it is and how mucwork it is for me to defend him. And who amdoing all this hard work for? I'm doing it - it



laughable even to say it - I'm doing it for BlockHe ought to realise what that means, too. Dihe study without a pause?" "Almost without

pause," answered Leni. "Just the once he askeme for a drink of water, so I gave him a glassfuthrough the window. Then at eight o'clock I lhim out and gave him something to eat." Blocglanced sideways at K., as if he were bein

praised and had to impress K. as well. He nowseemed more optimistic, he moved more freeland rocked back and forth on his knees. Thmade his astonishment all the more obviou

when he heard the following words from thlawyer: "You speak well of him," said the lawyer, "but that's just what makes it difficult fome. You see, the judge did not speak well ohim at all, neither about Block nor about h

case." "Didn't speak well of him?" asked Len"How is that possible?" Block looked at hewith such tension he seemed to think that alhough the judge's words had been spoken slong before she would be able to change them



in his favour. "Not at all," said the lawyer. "Ifact he became quite cross when I started to talabout Block to him. 'Don't talk to me abou

Block,' he said. 'He is my client,' said I. 'You'rletting him abuse you,' he said. 'I don't think hcase is lost yet,' said I. 'You're letting him abusyou,' he repeated. 'I don't think so,' said 'Block works hard in his case and alway

knows where it stands. He practically livewith me so that he always knows what's happening. You don't always find such enthusiasmas that. He's not very pleasant personally,

grant you, his manners are terrible and hedirty, but as far as the trial's concerned hequite immaculate.' I said immaculate, but I wadeliberately exaggerating. Then he said, 'Blocis sly, that's all. He's accumulated plenty o

experience and knows how to delay proceedings. But there's more that he doesn't knowthan he does. What do you think he'd say if hlearned his trial still hasn't begun, if you tolhim they haven't even rung the bell to announ



ce the start of proceedings?' Alright Block, aright," said the lawyer, as at these words Blochad begun to raise himself on his tremblin

knees and clearly wanted to plead for somexplanation. It was the first time the lawyer haspoken any clear words directly to Block. Hlooked down with his tired eyes, half blankland half at Block, who slowly sank back dow

on his knees under this gaze. "What the judgsaid has no meaning for you," said the lawye"You needn't be frightened at every word. you do it again I won't tell you anything else a

all. It's impossible to start a sentence withouyou looking at me as if you were receiving youfinal judgement. You should be ashamed oyourself here in front of my client! And you'rdestroying the trust he has for me. Just what

it you want? You're still alive, you're still undemy protection. There's no point in worryingSomewhere you've read that the final judgement can often come without warning, fromanyone at any time. And, in the right circum



tances, that's basically true, but it's also truthat I dislike your anxiety and fear and see thayou don't have the trust in me you shoul

have. Now what have I just said? I repeatesomething said by one of the judges. You knowthat there are so many various opinions abouthe procedure that they form into a great bipile and nobody can make any sense of them

This judge, for instance, sees proceedings astarting at a different point from where I do. Adifference of opinion, nothing more. At a cetain stage in the proceedings tradition has

that a sign is given by ringing a bell. This judgsees that as the point at which proceedings begin. I can't set out all the opinions opposed tthat view here, and you wouldn't understand anyway, suffice it to say that there are man

reasons to disagree with him." EmbarrassedBlock ran his fingers through the pile of thcarpet, his anxiety about what the judge hasaid had let him forget his inferior status towards the lawyer for a while, he thought onl



about himself and turned the judges wordround to examine them from all sides. "Blocksaid Leni, as if reprimanding him, and, takin

hold of the collar of his coat, pulled him uslightly higher. "Leave the carpet alone anlisten to what the lawyer is saying."

This chapter was left unfinished.

Chapter Nine In the Cathedral

A very important Italian business contact of thbank had come to visit the city for the first tim

and K. was given the task of showing him somof its cultural sights. At any other time hwould have seen this job as an honour but nowwhen he was finding it hard even to maintaihis current position in the bank, he accepted



only with reluctance. Every hour that he coulnot be in the office was a cause of concern fohim, he was no longer able to make use of h

time in the office anything like as well as hhad previously, he spent many hours merelpretending to do important work, but that onlincreased his anxiety about not being in thoffice. Then he sometimes thought he saw th

deputy director, who was always watchingcome into K.'s office, sit at his desk, loothrough his papers, receive clients who haalmost become old friends of K., and lure them

away from him, perhaps he even discoveremistakes, mistakes that seemed to threaten Kfrom a thousand directions when he was awork now, and which he could no longeavoid. So now, if he was ever asked to leave th

office on business or even needed to make short business trip, however much an honour seemed - and tasks of this sort happened thave increased substantially recently - therwas always the suspicion that they wanted t



get him out of his office for a while and chechis work, or at least the idea that they thoughhe was dispensable. It would not have bee

difficult for him to turn down most of thesjobs, but he did not dare to do so because, if hfears had the slightest foundation, turning thjobs down would have been an acknowledgment of them. For this reason, he never demu

rred from accepting them, and even when hwas asked to go on a tiring business trip lastintwo days he said nothing about having to gout in the rainy autumn weather when he had

severe chill, just in order to avoid the risk of nobeing asked to go. When, with a raging headache, he arrived back from this trip he learnethat he had been chosen to accompany the Italian business contact the following day. Th

temptation for once to turn the job down wavery great, especially as it had no direct connetion with business, but there was no denyinthat social obligations towards this businescontact were in themselves important enough



only not for K., who knew quite well that hneeded some successes at work if he was tmaintain his position there and that, if he faile

in that, it would not help him even if this Italian somehow found him quite charming; hdid not want to be removed from his workplacfor even one day, as the fear of not being allowed back in was too great, he knew full we

that the fear was exaggerated but it still madhim anxious. However, in this case it was amost impossible to think of an acceptable excuse, his knowledge of Italian was not great bu

still good enough; the deciding factor was thaK. had earlier known a little about art historand this had become widely known around thbank in extremely exaggerated form, and thaK. had been a member of the Society for th

Preservation of City Monuments, albeit only fobusiness reasons. It was said that this Italiawas an art lover, so the choice of K. to accompany him was a matter of course.



It was a very rainy and stormy morning wheK., in a foul temper at the thought of the daahead of him, arrived early at seven o'clock i

the office so that he could at least do somwork before his visitor would prevent him. Hhad spent half the night studying a book oItalian grammar so that he would be somewhaprepared and was very tired; his desk was les

attractive to him than the window where hhad spent far too much time sitting of late, buhe resisted the temptation and sat down to hwork. Unfortunately, just then the servitor ca

me in and reported that the director had senhim to see whether the chief clerk was alreadin his office; if he was, then would he please bso kind as to come to his reception room as thgentleman from Italy was already there. "I

come straight away," said K. He put a smadictionary in his pocket, took a guide to thcity's tourist sites under his arm that he hacompiled for strangers, and went through thdeputy director's office into that of the directo



He was glad he had come into the office so ealy and was able to be of service immediatelynobody could seriously have expected that o

him. The deputy director's office was, of coursstill as empty as the middle of the night, thservitor had probably been asked to summohim too but without success. As K. entered threception room two men stood up from th

deep armchairs where they had been sittingThe director gave him a friendly smile, he waclearly very glad that K. was there, he immediately introduced him to the Italian who shoo

K.'s hand vigorously and joked that somebodwas an early riser. K. did not quite understanwhom he had in mind, it was moreover an odexpression to use and it took K. a little while tguess its meaning. He replied with a few blan

phrases which the Italian received once morwith a laugh, passing his hand nervously anrepeatedly over his blue-grey, bushy moustache. This moustache was obviously perfumedit was almost tempting to come close to it an



sniff. When they had all sat down and begun light preliminary conversation, K. was disconcerted to notice that he understood no mor

than fragments of what the Italian said. Whehe spoke very calmly he understood almoeverything, but that was very infrequent, motly the words gushed from his mouth and hseemed to be enjoying himself so much h

head shook. When he was talking in this wahis speech was usually wrapped up in somkind of dialect which seemed to K. to have nohing to do with Italian but which the directo

not only understood but also spoke, althougK. ought to have foreseen this as the Italiacame from the south of his country where thdirector had also spent several years. Whatevethe cause, K. realised that the possibility o

communicating with the Italian had been largly taken from him, even his French was difficuto understand, and his moustache concealethe movements of his lips which might havoffered some help in understanding what h



said. K. began to anticipate many difficultiehe gave up trying to understand what the Italian said - with the director there, who coul

understand him so easily, it would have beepointless effort - and for the time being did nmore than scowl at the Italian as he relaxesitting deep but comfortable in the armchair, ahe frequently pulled at his short, sharply tailo

red jacket and at one time lifted his arms in thair and moved his hands freely to try and depict something that K. could not grasp, evethough he was leaning forward and did not le

the hands out of his sight. K. had nothing toccupy himself but mechanically watch thexchange between the two men and his tiredness finally made itself felt, to his alarm, alhough fortunately in good time, he once caugh

himself nearly getting up, turning round anleaving. Eventually the Italian looked at thclock and jumped up. After taking his leavfrom the director he turned to K., pressing himself so close to him that K. had to push his cha



back just so that he could move. The directohad, no doubt, seen the anxiety in K.'s eyes ahe tried to cope with this dialect of Italian, h

joined in with this conversation in a way thawas so adroit and unobtrusive that he seemeto be adding no more than minor commentwhereas in fact he was swiftly and patientlbreaking into what the Italian said so that K

could understand. K. learned in this way thathe Italian first had a few business matters tsettle, that he unfortunately had only a litttime at his disposal, that he certainly did no

intend to rush round to see every monument ithe city, that he would much rather - at least along as K. would agree, it was entirely his decsion - just see the cathedral and to do so thoroughly. He was extremely pleased to be a

companied by someone who was so learneand so pleasant - by this he meant K., who waoccupied not with listening to the Italian buthe director - and asked if he would be so kindif the time was suitable, to meet him in the ca



hedral in two hours' time at about ten o'clockHe hoped he would certainly be able to be there at that time. K. made an appropriate reply

the Italian shook first the director's hand anthen K.'s, then the director's again and went tthe door, half turned to the two men who followed him and continuing to talk without break. K. remained together with the directo

for a short while, although the director lookeespecially unhappy today. He thought he needed to apologise to K. for something and tolhim - they were standing intimately close to

gether - he had thought at first he would acompany the Italian himself, but then - he gavno more precise reason than this - then he decded it would be better to send K. with him. Hshould not be surprised if he could not under

tand the Italian at first, he would be able to very soon, and even if he really could not undertand very much he said it was not so bad, as was really not so important for the Italian to bunderstood. And anyway, K.'s knowledge o



Italian was surprisingly good, the director wasure he would get by very well. And with thait was time for K. to go. He spent the time sti

remaining to him with a dictionary, copyinout obscure words he would need to guide thItalian round the cathedral. It was an extremelirksome task, servitors brought him the maibank staff came with various queries and, whe

they saw that K. was busy, stood by the dooand did not go away until he had listened tthem, the deputy director did not miss the opportunity to disturb K. and came in frequently

took the dictionary from his hand and flickethrough its pages, clearly for no purpose, whethe door to the ante-room opened even clienwould appear from the half darkness and bowtimidly to him - they wanted to attract his a

tention but were not sure whether he had seethem - all this activity was circling around Kwith him at its centre while he compiled the liof words he would need, then looked them uin the dictionary, then wrote them out, the



practised their pronunciation and finally trieto learn them by heart. The good intentions hhad had earlier, though, seemed to have le

him completely, it was the Italian who had caused him all this effort and sometimes he became so angry with him that he buried the dictionary under some papers firmly intending to dno more preparation, but then he realised h

could not walk up and down in the cathedrawith the Italian without saying a word, so, ian even greater rage, he pulled the dictionarback out again.

At exactly half past nine, just when he waabout to leave, there was a telephone call fohim, Leni wished him good morning and askehow he was, K. thanked her hurriedly and tol

her it was impossible for him to talk now as hhad to go to the cathedral. "To the cathedral?asked Leni. "Yes, to the cathedral." "What dyou have to go to the cathedral for?" said LenK. tried to explain it to her briefly, but he ha



hardly begun when Leni suddenly said, "Theyre harassing you." One thing that K. could nobear was pity that he had not wanted or expec

ted, he took his leave of her with two wordbut as he put the receiver back in its place hsaid, half to himself and half to the girl on thother end of the line who could no longer heahim, "Yes, they're harassing me."

By now the time was late and there was almoa danger he would not be on time. He took taxi to the cathedral, at the last moment he haremembered the album that he had had no opportunity to give to the Italian earlier and stook it with him now. He held it on his kneeand drummed impatiently on it during thwhole journey. The rain had eased off slightl

but it was still damp chilly and dark, it woulbe difficult to see anything in the cathedral bustanding about on cold flagstones might wemake K.'s chill much worse. The square in fronof the cathedral was quite empty, K. remembe



red how even as a small child he had noticethat nearly all the houses in this narrow squarhad the curtains at their windows closed mo

of the time, although today, with the weathelike this, it was more understandable. The cahedral also seemed quite empty, of course noone would think of going there on a day likthis. K. hurried along both the side naves bu

saw no-one but an old woman who, wrappeup in a warm shawl, was kneeling at a picturof the Virgin Mary and staring up at it. Then, ithe distance, he saw a church official who lim

ped away through a doorway in the wall. Khad arrived on time, it had struck ten just as hwas entering the building, but the Italian stiwas not there. K. went back to the main entrance, stood there indecisively for a while, an

then walked round the cathedral in the rain icase the Italian was waiting at another entrance. He was nowhere to be found. Could thdirector have misunderstood what time thehad agreed on? How could anyone understan



someone like that properly anyway? Whatevehad happened, K. would have to wait for himfor at least half an hour. As he was tired h

wanted to sit down, he went back inside thcathedral, he found something like a small capet on one of the steps, he moved it with hfoot to a nearby pew, wrapped himself up tighter in his coat, put the collar up and sat down

To pass the time he opened the album and flicked through the pages a little but soon had tgive up as it became so dark that when he looked up he could hardly make out anything i

the side nave next to him.

In the distance there was a large triangle ocandles flickering on the main altar, K. was nocertain whether he had seen them earlier. Pe

haps they had only just been lit. Church stacreep silently as part of their job, you don't notice them. When K. happened to turn round halso saw a tall, stout candle attached to a column not far behind him. It was all very pretty



but totally inadequate to illuminate the picturewhich were usually left in the darkness of thside altars, and seemed to make the darknes

all the deeper. It was discourteous of the Italianot to come but it was also sensible of him, thre would have been nothing to see, they woulhave had to content themselves with seekinout a few pictures with K.'s electric pocke

torch and looking at them one small part at time. K. went over to a nearby side chapel tsee what they could have hoped for, he wenup a few steps to a low marble railing and lean

over it to look at the altar picture by the light ohis torch. The eternal light hung disturbingly ifront of it. The first thing that K. partly saw anpartly guessed at was a large knight in armouwho was shown at the far edge of the painting

He was leaning on his sword that he had stucinto the naked ground in front of him wheronly a few blades of grass grew here and therHe seemed to be paying close attention to something that was being played out in front o



him. It was astonishing to see how he stoothere without going any closer. Perhaps it wahis job to stand guard. It was a long time sinc

K. had looked at any pictures and he studiethe knight for a long time even though he hacontinually to blink as he found it difficult tbear the green light of his torch. Then when hmoved the light to the other parts of the pictur

he found an interment of Christ shown in thusual way, it was also a comparatively newpainting. He put his torch away and went bacto his place.

There seemed to be no point in waiting for thItalian any longer, but outside it was certainlraining heavily, and as it was not so cold in thcathedral as K. had expected he decided to sta

there for the time being. Close by him was thgreat pulpit, there were two plain golden croses attached to its little round roof which werlying almost flat and whose tips crossed oveeach other. The outside of the pulpit's balustra



de was covered in green foliage which contnued down to the column supporting it, littangels could be seen among the leaves, some o

them lively and some of them still. K. walkeup to the pulpit and examined it from all sideits stonework had been sculpted with greacare, it seemed as if the foliage had trapped deep darkness between and behind its leave

and held it there prisoner, K. lay his hand ione of these gaps and cautiously felt the stonuntil then he had been totally unaware of thpulpit's existence. Then K. happened to notic

one of the church staff standing behind the nexrow of pews, he wore a loose, creased, blaccassock, he held a snuff box in his left hand anhe was watching K. Now what does he wanthought K. Do I seem suspicious to him? Doe

he want a tip? But when the man in the cassocsaw that K. had noticed him he raised his righhand, a pinch of snuff still held between twfingers, and pointed in some vague direction. was almost impossible to understand what th



behaviour meant, K. waited a while longer buthe man in the cassock did not stop gesturinwith his hand and even augmented it by nod

ding his head. "Now what does he want?" aked K. quietly, he did not dare call out louhere; but then he drew out his purse and puhed his way through the nearest pews to reacthe man. He, however, immediately gestured t

turn down this offer, shrugged his shoulderand limped away. As a child K. had imitateriding on a horse with the same sort of movment as this limp. "This old man is like a child

thought K., "he doesn't have the sense for anyhing more than serving in a church. Look at thway he stops when I stop, and how he waits tsee whether I'll continue." With a smile, K. followed the old man all the way up the side na

ve and almost as far as the main altar, all thtime the old man continued to point at somehing but K. deliberately avoided looking roundhe was only pointing in order to make it hardefor K. to follow him. Eventually, K. did sto



following, he did not want to worry the olman too much, and he also did not want tfrighten him away completely in case the Ita

lian turned up after all.

When he entered the central nave to go back twhere he had left the album, he noticed a smasecondary pulpit on a column almost next t

the stalls by the altar where the choir sat. It wavery simple, made of plain white stone, and ssmall that from a distance it looked like aempty niche where the statue of a saint oughto have been. It certainly would have been impossible for the priest to take a full step bacfrom the balustrade, and, although there wano decoration on it, the top of the pulpit curvein exceptionally low so that a man of averag

height would not be able stand upright anwould have to remain bent forward over thbalustrade. In all, it looked as if it had beeintended to make the priest suffer, it was impossible to understand why this pulpit woul



be needed as there were also the other oneavailable which were large and so artisticalldecorated.

And K. would certainly not have noticed thlittle pulpit if there had not been a lamp fastened above it, which usually meant there was sermon about to be given. So was a sermon t

be given now? In this empty church? K. lookedown at the steps which, pressed close againthe column, led up to the pulpit. They were snarrow they seemed to be there as decoratioon the column rather than for anyone to usBut under the pulpit - K. grinned in astonishment - there really was a priest standing withis hand on the handrail ready to climb thsteps and looking at K. Then he nodded ver

slightly, so that K. crossed himself and genuflected as he should have done earlier. With little swing, the priest went up into the pulpwith short fast steps. Was there really a sermoabout to begin? Maybe the man in the cassoc



had not been really so demented, and hameant to lead K.'s way to the preacher, whicin this empty church would have been ver

necessary. And there was also, somewhere ifront of a picture of the Virgin Mary, an olwoman who should have come to hear thsermon. And if there was to be a sermon whhad it not been introduced on the organ? Bu

the organ remained quiet and merely lookeout weakly from the darkness of its greaheight.

K. now considered whether he should leave aquickly as possible, if he did not do it now thre would be no chance of doing so during thsermon and he would have to stay there for along as it lasted, he had lost so much time whe

he should have been in his office, there halong been no need for him to wait for the Italian any longer, he looked at his watch, it waeleven. But could there really be a sermon gven? Could K. constitute the entire congrega



tion? How could he when he was just a stranger who wanted to look at the church? Thabasically, was all he was. The idea of a sermon

now, at eleven o'clock, on a workday, ihideous weather, was nonsense. The priest there was no doubt that he was a priest, young man with a smooth, dark face - waclearly going up there just to put the lamp ou

after somebody had lit it by mistake.

But there had been no mistake, the priest semed rather to check that the lamp was lit anturned it a little higher, then he slowly turneto face the front and leant down on the balutrade gripping its angular rail with both handHe stood there like that for a while and, wihout turning his head, looked around. K. ha

moved back a long way and leant his elbows othe front pew. Somewhere in the church - hcould not have said exactly where - he coulmake out the man in the cassock hunched under his bent back and at peace, as if his wor



were completed. In the cathedral it was nowvery quiet! But K. would have to disturb thsilence, he had no intention of staying there;

it was the priest's duty to preach at a certaitime regardless of the circumstances then hcould, and he could do it without K.'s takinpart, and K.'s presence would do nothing taugment the effect of it. So K. began slowly t

move, felt his way on tiptoe along the pewarrived at the broad aisle and went along without being disturbed, except for the sounof his steps, however light, which rang out o

the stone floor and resounded from the vauting, quiet but continuous at a repeating, regular pace. K. felt slightly abandoned as, probablobserved by the priest, he walked by himsebetween the empty pews, and the size of th

cathedral seemed to be just at the limit of whaa man could bear. When he arrived back awhere he had been sitting he did not hesitatbut simply reached out for the album he haleft there and took it with him. He had nearl



left the area covered by pews and was close tthe empty space between himself and the exwhen, for the first time, he heard the voice o

the priest. A powerful and experienced voice. pierced through the reaches of the cathedrready waiting for it! But the priest was not calling out to the congregation, his cry was quitunambiguous and there was no escape from i

he called "Josef K.!"

K. stood still and looked down at the floor. Itheory he was still free, he could have carrieon walking, through one of three dark littwooden doors not far in front of him and awafrom there. It would simply mean he had nounderstood, or that he had understood but chose not to pay attention to it. But if he once tu

ned round he would be trapped, then he woulhave acknowledged that he had understooperfectly well, that he really was the Josef Kthe priest had called to and that he was willinto follow. If the priest had called out again K



would certainly have carried on out the doobut everything was silent as K. also waited, hturned his head slightly as he wanted to se

what the priest was doing now. He was merelstanding in the pulpit as before, but it was obvious that he had seen K. turn his head. If Kdid not now turn round completely it woulhave been like a child playing hide and seek

He did so, and the priest beckoned him withis finger. As everything could now be donopenly he ran - because of curiosity and thwish to get it over with - with long flying leap

towards the pulpit. At the front pews he stopped, but to the priest he still seemed too faaway, he reached out his hand and pointesharply down with his finger to a place immediately in front of the pulpit. And K. did as h

was told, standing in that place he had to benhis head a long way back just to see the pries"You are Josef K.," said the priest, and raisehis hand from the balustrade to make a gesturwhose meaning was unclear. "Yes," said K., h



considered how freely he had always given hname in the past, for some time now it habeen a burden to him, now there were peop

who knew his name whom he had never seebefore, it had been so nice first to introducyourself and only then for people to know whyou were. "You have been accused," said thpriest, especially gently. "Yes," said K., "so

have been informed." "Then you are the oneam looking for," said the priest. "I am the prson chaplain." "I see," said K. "I had you summoned here," said the priest, "because I wante

to speak to you." "I knew nothing of that," saiK. "I came here to show the cathedral to a gentleman from Italy." "That is beside the pointsaid the priest. "What are you holding in youhand? Is it a prayer book?" "No," answered K

"it's an album of the city's tourist sights." "Put down," said the priest. K. threw it away witsuch force that it flapped open and rolleacross the floor, tearing its pages. "Do yoknow your case is going badly?" asked th



priest. "That's how it seems to me too," said K"I've expended a lot of effort on it, but so fawith no result. Although I do still have som

documents to submit." "How do you imagine will end?" asked the priest. "At first I thought was bound to end well," said K., "but nowhave my doubts about it. I don't know how will end. Do you know?" "I don't," said th

priest, "but I fear it will end badly. You are considered guilty. Your case will probably noeven go beyond a minor court. Provisionally aleast, your guilt is seen as proven." "But I'm no

guilty," said K., "there's been a mistake. How it even possible for someone to be guilty. We'rall human beings here, one like the other"That is true," said the priest, "but that is howthe guilty speak." "Do you presume I'm guilt

too?" asked K. "I make no presumptions abouyou," said the priest. "I thank you for that," saiK. "but everyone else involved in these procedings has something against me and presumeI'm guilty. They even influence those wh



aren't involved. My position gets harder all thtime." "You don't understand the facts," said thpriest, "the verdict does not come suddenly

proceedings continue until a verdict is reachegradually." "I see," said K., lowering his head"What do you intend to do about your casnext?" asked the priest. "I still need to finhelp," said K., raising his head to see what th

priest thought of this. "There are still certaipossibilities I haven't yet made use of." "Yolook for too much help from people you donknow," said the priest disapprovingly, "an

especially from women. Can you really not sethat's not the help you need?" "Sometimes, ifact quite often, I could believe you're rightsaid K., "but not always. Women have a lot opower. If I could persuade some of the wome

I know to work together with me then I woulbe certain to succeed. Especially in a court likthis that seems to consist of nothing but woman-chasers. Show the examining judge a woman in the distance and he'll run right over th





The two men, then, remained silent for a lontime. In the darkness beneath him, the priecould not possibly have seen K. distinctly, al

hough K. was able to see him clearly by thlight of the little lamp. Why did the priest nocome down? He had not given a sermon, hhad only told K. a few things which, if he followed them closely, would probably caus

him more harm than good. But the priest cetainly seemed to mean well, it might even bpossible, if he would come down and cooperatwith him, it might even be possible for him t

obtain some acceptable piece of advice thacould make all the difference, it might, for intance, be able to show him not so much to influence the proceedings but how to break freof them, how to evade them, how to live awa

from them. K. had to admit that this was something he had had on his mind quite a lot olate. If the priest knew of such a possibility hmight, if K. asked him, let him know about ieven though he was part of the court himse



and even though, when K. had criticised thcourt, he had held down his gentle nature anactually shouted at K.

"Would you not like to come down here?" aked K. "If you're not going to give a sermocome down here with me." "Now I can comdown," said the priest, perhaps he regrette

having shouted at K. As he took down the lamfrom its hook he said, "to start off with I had tspeak to you from a distance. Otherwise I'm toeasily influenced and forget my duty."

K. waited for him at the foot of the steps. Whihe was still on one of the higher steps as hcame down them the priest reached out hhand for K. to shake. "Can you spare me a litt

of your time?" asked K. "As much time as yoneed," said the priest, and passed him the littlamp for him to carry. Even at close distancthe priest did not lose a certain solemnity thaseemed to be part of his character. "You ar

very friendly towards me," said K., as the



walked up and down beside each other in thdarkness of one of the side naves. "That makeyou an exception among all those who belon

to the court. I can trust you more than any othe others I've seen. I can speak openly wityou." "Don't fool yourself," said the pries"How would I be fooling myself?" asked K"You fool yourself in the court," said the pries

"it talks about this self-deceit in the openinparagraphs to the law. In front of the law theris a doorkeeper. A man from the countrysidcomes up to the door and asks for entry. Bu

the doorkeeper says he can't let him in to thlaw right now. The man thinks about this, anthen he asks if he'll be able to go in later on'That's possible,' says the doorkeeper, 'but nonow'. The gateway to the law is open as it a

ways is, and the doorkeeper has stepped to onside, so the man bends over to try and see inWhen the doorkeeper notices this he laughand says, 'If you're tempted give it a try, trand go in even though I say you can't. Carefu



though: I'm powerful. And I'm only the lowliest of all the doormen. But there's a doorkeeper for each of the rooms and each of them

more powerful than the last. It's more than can stand just to look at the third one.' The mafrom the country had not expected difficultielike this, the law was supposed to be accessibfor anyone at any time, he thinks, but now h

looks more closely at the doorkeeper in his fucoat, sees his big hooked nose, his long thitartar-beard, and he decides it's better to wauntil he has permission to enter. The doorkee

per gives him a stool and lets him sit down tone side of the gate. He sits there for days anyears. He tries to be allowed in time and agaiand tires the doorkeeper with his requests. Thdoorkeeper often questions him, asking abou

where he's from and many other things, buthese are disinterested questions such as greamen ask, and he always ends up by telling himhe still can't let him in. The man had come weequipped for his journey, and uses everything



however valuable, to bribe the doorkeeper. Haccepts everything, but as he does so he say'I'll only accept this so that you don't think the

re's anything you've failed to do'. Over manyears, the man watches the doorkeeper almowithout a break. He forgets about the othedoormen, and begins to think this one is thonly thing stopping him from gaining access t

the law. Over the first few years he curses hunhappy condition out loud, but later, as hbecomes old, he just grumbles to himself. Hbecomes senile, and as he has come to know

even the fleas in the doorkeeper's fur collaover the years that he has been studying him heven asks them to help him and change thdoorkeeper's mind. Finally his eyes grow dimand he no longer knows whether it's really ge

ting darker or just his eyes that are deceivinhim. But he seems now to see an inextinguihable light begin to shine from the darknesbehind the door. He doesn't have long to livnow. Just before he dies, he brings together a



his experience from all this time into one quetion which he has still never put to the dookeeper. He beckons to him, as he's no longe

able to raise his stiff body. The doorkeeper hato bend over deeply as the difference in thesizes has changed very much to the disadvantage of the man. 'What is it you want to knownow?' asks the doorkeeper, 'You're insatiable

'Everyone wants access to the law,' says thman, 'how come, over all these years, no- onbut me has asked to be let in?' The doorkeepecan see the man's come to his end, his hearin

has faded, and so, so that he can be heard, hshouts to him: 'Nobody else could have got ithis way, as this entrance was meant only foyou. Now I'll go and close it'."

"So the doorkeeper cheated the man," said Kimmediately, who had been captivated by thstory. "Don't be too quick," said the pries"don't take somebody else's opinion withouchecking it. I told you the story exactly as it wa



written. There's nothing in there about cheating." "But it's quite clear," said K., "and youfirst interpretation of it was quite correct. Th

doorkeeper gave him the information thwould release him only when it could be of nmore use." "He didn't ask him before that," saithe priest, "and don't forget he was only doorkeeper, and as doorkeeper he did his du

ty." "What makes you think he did his dutyasked K., "He didn't. It might have been hduty to keep everyone else away, but this mais who the door was intended for and he ough

to have let him in." "You're not paying enougattention to what was written and you're changing the story," said the priest. "According tthe story, there are two important things ththe doorkeeper explains about access to th

law, one at the beginning, one at the end. Aone place he says he can't allow him in nowand at the other he says this entrance was intended for him alone. If one of the statemencontradicted the other you would be right an



the doorkeeper would have cheated the mafrom the country. But there is no contradictionOn the contrary, the first statement even hin

at the second. You could almost say the dookeeper went beyond his duty in that he offerethe man some prospect of being admitted in thfuture. Throughout the story, his duty seems thave been merely to turn the man away, an

there are many commentators who are surprsed that the doorkeeper offered this hint at alas he seems to love exactitude and keeps striguard over his position. He stays at his post fo

many years and doesn't close the gate until thvery end, he's very conscious of the importancof his service, as he says, 'I'm powerful,' he harespect for his superiors, as he says, 'I'm onlthe lowliest of the doormen', he's not talkativ

as through all these years the only questions hasks are 'disinterested', he's not corruptible, awhen he's offered a gift he says, 'I'll only accepthis so that you don't think there's anythinyou've failed to do,' as far as fulfilling his dut



goes he can be neither ruffled nor begged, as says about the man that, 'he tires the doorkeeper with his requests', even his external appe

rance suggests a pedantic character, the bihooked nose and the long, thin, black tartabeard. How could any doorkeeper be morfaithful to his duty? But in the doorkeepercharacter there are also other features whic

might be very useful for those who seek entrto the law, and when he hinted at some possiblity in the future it always seemed to make clear that he might even go beyond his duty

There's no denying he's a little simple mindedand that makes him a little conceited. Even if ahe said about his power and the power of thother doorkeepers and how not even he coulbear the sight of them - I say even if all thes

assertions are right, the way he makes themshows that he's too simple and arrogant to understand properly. The commentators saabout this that, 'correct understanding of a mater and a misunderstanding of the same matte



are not mutually exclusive'. Whether they'rright or not, you have to concede that his simplicity and arrogance, however little they show

do weaken his function of guarding the entrance, they are defects in the doorkeeper's charater. You also have to consider that the doorkeeper seems to be friendly by nature, he isn't aways just an official. He makes a joke right a

the beginning, in that he invites the man to enter at the same time as maintaining the ban ohis entering, and then he doesn't send himaway but gives him, as it says in the text, a stoo

to sit on and lets him stay by the side of thdoor. The patience with which he puts up witthe man's requests through all these years, thlittle questioning sessions, accepting the gifthis politeness when he puts up with the ma

cursing his fate even though it was the dookeeper who caused that fate - all these thingseem to want to arouse our sympathy. Not evry doorkeeper would have behaved in the samway. And finally, he lets the man beckon him



and he bends deep down to him so that he caput his last question. There's no more than some slight impatience - the doorkeeper know

everything's come to its end - shown in thwords, 'You're insatiable'. There are mancommentators who go even further in explaning it in this way and think the words, 'you'rinsatiable' are an expression of friendly admira

tion, albeit with some condescension. Howeveyou look at it the figure of the doorkeeper comes out differently from how you might think"You know the story better than I do and you

ve known it for longer," said K. They were slent for a while. And then K. said, "So you thinthe man was not cheated, do you?" "Don't gme wrong," said the priest, "I'm just pointinout the different opinions about it. Yo

shouldn't pay too much attention to peopleopinions. The text cannot be altered, and thvarious opinions are often no more than aexpression of despair over it. There's even onopinion which says it's the doorkeeper who



been cheated." "That does seem to take thingtoo far," said K. "How can they argue the dookeeper has been cheated?" "Their argument

answered the priest, "is based on the simplicitof the doorkeeper. They say the doorkeepedoesn't know the inside of the law, only thway into it where he just walks up and downThey see his ideas of what's inside the law a

rather childish, and suppose he's afraid himseof what he wants to make the man frighteneof. Yes, he's more afraid of it than the man, athe man wants nothing but to go inside the law

even after he's heard about the terrible doomen there, in contrast to the doorkeeper whdoesn't want to go in, or at least we don't heaanything about it. On the other hand, there arthose who say he must have already been ins

de the law as he has been taken on into its sevice and that could only have been done insidThat can be countered by supposing he coulhave been given the job of doorkeeper by somebody calling out from inside, and that h



can't have gone very far inside as he couldnbear the sight of the third doorkeeper. Nothrough all those years, does the story say th

doorkeeper told the man anything about thinside, other than his comment about the othedoorkeepers. He could have been forbidden tdo so, but he hasn't said anything about thaeither. All this seems to show he doesn't know

anything about what the inside looks like owhat it means, and that that's why he's beindeceived. But he's also being deceived by thman from the country as he's this man's subo

dinate and doesn't know it. There's a lot to indicate that he treats the man as his subordinatI expect you remember, but those who hold thview would say it's very clear that he really his subordinate. Above all, the free man is su

perior to the man who has to serve anotheNow, the man really is free, he can go wherevehe wants, the only thing forbidden to him entry into the law and, what's more, thereonly one man forbidding him to do so - th



doorkeeper. If he takes the stool and sits dowbeside the door and stays there all his life hdoes this of his own free will, there's nothing i

the story to say he was forced to do it. On thother hand, the doorkeeper is kept to his poby his employment, he's not allowed to gaway from it and it seems he's not allowed tgo inside either, not even if he wanted to. Also

although he's in the service of the law he's onlthere for this one entrance, therefore he's theronly in the service of this one man who thdoor's intended for. This is another way i

which he's his subordinate. We can take it thahe's been performing this somewhat emptservice for many years, through the whole of man's life, as it says that a man will come, thameans someone old enough to be a man. Tha

means the doorkeeper will have to wait a lontime before his function is fulfilled, he will havto wait for as long as the man liked, who camto the door of his own free will. Even the end othe doorkeeper's service is determined by whe



the man's life ends, so the doorkeeper remainhis subordinate right to the end. And it's pointed out repeatedly that the doorkeeper seems t

know nothing of any of this, although this not seen as anything remarkable, as those whhold this view see the doorkeeper as deluded ia way that's far worse, a way that's to do withis service. At the end, speaking about the en

trance he says, 'Now I'll go and close it', alhough at the beginning of the story it says thdoor to the law is open as it always is, but if italways open - always - that means it's ope

independently of the lifespan of the man itintended for, and not even the doorkeeper wibe able to close it. There are various opinionabout this, some say the doorkeeper was onlanswering a question or showing his devotio

to duty or, just when the man was in his lamoments, the doorkeeper wanted to cause himregret and sorrow. There are many who agrethat he wouldn't be able to close the door. Theeven believe, at the end at least, the doorkeepe



is aware, deep down, that he's the man's subordinate, as the man sees the light that shineout of the entry to the law whereas the doo

keeper would probably have his back to it ansays nothing at all to show there's been anchange." "That is well substantiated," said Kwho had been repeating some parts of thpriest's explanation to himself in a whisper. "

is well substantiated, and now I too think thdoorkeeper must have been deceived. Alhough that does not mean I've abandoned whI thought earlier as the two versions are, to so

me extent, not incompatible. It's not cleawhether the doorkeeper sees clearly or is dceived. I said the man had been cheated. If thdoorkeeper understands clearly, then thercould be some doubt about it, but if the doo

keeper has been deceived then the man bound to believe the same thing. That woulmean the doorkeeper is not a cheat but so simple-minded that he ought to be dismissed fromhis job immediately; if the doorkeeper is mista



ken it will do him no harm but the man will bharmed immensely." "There you've founanother opinion," said the priest, "as there ar

many who say the story doesn't give anyonthe right to judge the doorkeeper. However hmight seem to us he is still in the service of thlaw, so he belongs to the law, so he's beyonwhat man has a right to judge. In this case w

can't believe the doorkeeper is the man's subordinate. Even if he has to stay at the entrancinto the law his service makes him incomparably more than if he lived freely in the world

The man has come to the law for the first timand the doorkeeper is already there. He's beegiven his position by the law, to doubt hworth would be to doubt the law." "I can't saI'm in complete agreement with this view," sai

K. shaking his head, "as if you accept it youhave to accept that everything said by thdoorkeeper is true. But you've already explaned very fully that that's not possible." "Nosaid the priest, "you don't need to accept eve



rything as true, you only have to accept it anecessary." "Depressing view," said K. "The lmade into the rule of the world."

K. said that as if it were his final word but was not his conclusion. He was too tired tthink about all the ramifications of the storyand the sort of thoughts they led him into wer

not familiar to him, unrealistic things, thingbetter suited for officials of the court to discusthan for him. The simple story had lost its shape, he wanted to shake it off, and the priewho now felt quite compassionate allowed thand accepted K.'s remarks without commeneven though his view was certainly very different from K.'s.

In silence, they carried on walking for somtime, K. stayed close beside the priest withouknowing where he was. The lamp in his hanhad long since gone out. Once, just in front ohim, he thought he could see the statue of

saint by the glitter of the silver on it, although



quickly disappeared back into the darkness. Sthat he would not remain entirely dependenon the priest, K. asked him, "We're now nea

the main entrance, are we?" "No," said thpriest, "we're a long way from it. Do you already want to go?" K. had not thought of goinuntil then, but he immediately said, "Yes, cetainly, I have to go. I'm the chief clerk in a ban

and there are people waiting for me, I only came here to show a foreign business contaround the cathedral." "Alright," said the prieoffering him his hand, "go then." "But I can

find my way round in this darkness by myselfsaid K. "Go to your left as far as the wall," saithe priest, "then continue alongside the wawithout leaving it and you'll find a way outThe priest had only gone a few paces from him

but K. was already shouting loudly, "Pleaswait!" "I'm waiting," said the priest. "Is theranything else you want from me?" asked K"No," said the priest. "You were so friendly tme earlier on," said K., "and you explained eve





Chapter Ten End

The evening before K.'s thirty-first birthday - was about nine o'clock in the evening, the timwhen the streets were quiet - two men came twhere he lived. In frock coats, pale and fawearing top hats that looked like they coul

not be taken off their heads. After some brieformalities at the door of the flat when thefirst arrived, the same formalities were repeated at greater length at K.'s door. He had no

been notified they would be coming, but K. sain a chair near the door, dressed in black athey were, and slowly put on new gloves whicstretched tightly over his fingers and behaveas if he were expecting visitors. He immediate

ly stood up and looked at the gentlemen inqusitively. "You've come for me then, have youhe asked. The gentlemen nodded, one of themindicated the other with the top hand now i

his hand. K. told them he had been expecting



different visitor. He went to the window anlooked once more down at the dark street. Moof the windows on the other side of the stre

were also dark already, many of them had thcurtains closed. In one of the windows on thsame floor where there was a light on, twsmall children could be seen playing with eacother inside a playpen, unable to move from

where they were, reaching out for each othewith their little hands. "Some ancient, unimpotant actors - that's what they've sent for mesaid K. to himself, and looked round once agai

to confirm this to himself. "They want to some out as cheaply as they can." K. suddenlturned round to face the two men and asked"What theatre do you play in?" "Theatre?" aked one of the gentlemen, turning to the othe

for assistance and pulling in the corners of hmouth. The other made a gesture like someonwho was dumb, as if he were struggling witsome organism causing him trouble. "You'r



not properly prepared to answer questionssaid K. and went to fetch his hat.

As soon as they were on the stairs the gentlemen wanted to take K.'s arms, but K. said "Watill we're in the street, I'm not ill." But they wated only until the front door before they toohis arms in a way that K. had never experien

ced before. They kept their shoulders closbehind his, did not turn their arms in but twited them around the entire length of K.'s armand took hold of his hands with a grasp thwas formal, experienced and could not be resited. K. was held stiff and upright betweethem, they formed now a single unit so that any one of them had been knocked down all othem must have fallen. They formed a unit o

the sort that normally can be formed only bmatter that is lifeless.

Whenever they passed under a lamp K. tried tsee his companions more clearly, as far as wa

possible when they were pressed so close to



gether, as in the dim light of his room this habeen hardly possible. "Maybe they're tenorshe thought as he saw their big double chin

The cleanliness of their faces disgusted him. Hcould see the hands that cleaned them, passinover the corners of their eyes, rubbing at theupper lips, scratching out the creases on thoschins.

When K. noticed that, he stopped, which meanthe others had to stop too; they were at the edge of an open square, devoid of people but dcorated with flower beds. "Why did they senyou, of all people!" he cried out, more a shouthan a question. The two gentleman clearlknew no answer to give, they waited, their frearms hanging down, like nurses when the p

tient needs to rest. "I will go no further," said Kas if to see what would happen. The gentlemedid not need to make any answer, it waenough that they did not loosen their grip on Kand tried to move him on, but K. resisted them



"I'll soon have no need of much strength, Iuse all of it now," he thought. He thought of thflies that tear their legs off struggling to get fre

of the flypaper. "These gentleman will havsome hard work to do".

Just then, Miss Bürstner came up into thsquare in front of them from the steps leadin

from a small street at a lower level. It was nocertain that it was her, although the similaritwas, of course, great. But it did not matter to Kwhether it was certainly her anyway, he jubecame suddenly aware that there was no poinin his resistance. There would be nothing heroabout it if he resisted, if he now caused troubfor these gentlemen, if in defending himself hsought to enjoy his last glimmer of life. He sta

ted walking, which pleased the gentlemen ansome of their pleasure conveyed itself to himNow they permitted him to decide which direction they took, and he decided to take the direction that followed the young woman in front o



them, not so much because he wanted to catcup with her, nor even because he wanted tkeep her in sight for as long as possible, bu

only so that he would not forget the reproacshe represented for him. "The only thing I cado now," he said to himself, and his thoughwas confirmed by the equal length of his owsteps with the steps of the two others, "the onl

thing I can do now is keep my common sensand do what's needed right till the end. I aways wanted to go at the world and try and dtoo much, and even to do it for something tha

was not too cheap. That was wrong of mShould I now show them I learned nothinfrom facing trial for a year? Should I go out liksomeone stupid? Should I let anyone say, afteI'm gone, that at the start of the proceedings

wanted to end them, and that now that they'vended I want to start them again? I don't wananyone to say that. I'm grateful they sent thesunspeaking, uncomprehending men to go wit



me on this journey, and that it's been left up tme to say what's necessary".

Meanwhile, the young woman had turned ointo a side street, but K. could do without henow and let his companions lead him. All threof them now, in complete agreement, went ovea bridge in the light of the moon, the two gen

tlemen were willing to yield to each little movement made by K. as he moved slightly towards the edge and directed the group in thadirection as a single unit. The moonlight glitered and quivered in the water, which divideitself around a small island covered in a densly-piled mass of foliage and trees and busheBeneath them, now invisible, there were gravepaths with comfortable benches where K. ha

stretched himself out on many summer's day"I didn't actually want to stop here," he said this companions, shamed by their compliancwith his wishes. Behind K.'s back one of themseemed to quietly criticise the other for the m



sunderstanding about stopping, and then thewent on. The went on up through severstreets where policemen were walking o

standing here and there; some in the distancand then some very close. One of them with bushy moustache, his hand on the grip of hsword, seemed to have some purpose in approaching the group, which was hardly unsu

picious. The two gentlemen stopped, the policeman seemed about to open his mouth, anthen K. drove his group forcefully forwardSeveral times he looked back cautiously to se

if the policeman was following; but when thehad a corner between themselves and the policeman K. began to run, and the two gentlemen, despite being seriously short of breathhad to run with him.

In this way they quickly left the built up areand found themselves in the fields which, ithis part of town, began almost without antransition zone. There was a quarry, empty an



abandoned, near a building which was still likthose in the city. Here the men stopped, pehaps because this had always been their dest

nation or perhaps because they were too exhausted to run any further. Here they releasetheir hold on K., who just waited in silence, antook their top hats off while they looked rounthe quarry and wiped the sweat off their brow

with their handkerchiefs. The moonlight laeverywhere with the natural peace that granted to no other light.

After exchanging a few courtesies about whwas to carry out the next tasks - the gentlemedid not seem to have been allocated speciffunctions - one of them went to K. and took hcoat, his waistcoat, and finally his shirt off him

K. made an involuntary shiver, at which thgentleman gave him a gentle, reassuring tap othe back. Then he carefully folded the things uas if they would still be needed, even if not ithe near future. He did not want to expose K. t



the chilly night air without moving though, she took him under the arm and walked up andown with him a little way while the other gen

tleman looked round the quarry for a suitabplace. When he had found it he made a sigand the other gentleman escorted him there. was near the rockface, there was a stone lyinthere that had broken loose. The gentlemen sa

K. down on the ground, leant him against thstone and settled his head down on the top oit. Despite all the effort they went to, and dspite all the co-operation shown by K., his de

meanour seemed very forced and hard to believe. So one of the gentlemen asked the otheto grant him a short time while he put K. iposition by himself, but even that did nothinto make it better. In the end they left K. in

position that was far from the best of the onethey had tried so far. Then one of the gentlemen opened his frock coat and from a sheathanging on a belt stretched across his waistcoahe withdrew a long, thin, double-edge



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