, "it's in the past now and I've nearly
forgotten
about
it, but at the time it made me furious.
it, but at the time it made me furious.
The Trial by Franz Kafka
Easy people
to get on your side, thought K. , and was bothered only by the quiet from
the left hand side which was directly behind him and from which there
was applause from only a few individuals. He wondered what he could say
to get all of them to support him together or, if that were not
possible, to at least get the support of the others for a while.
"Yes," said the man, "but I'm now no longer under any obligation
to hear your case" - there was once more a muttering, but this time it
was misleading as the man waved the people's objections aside with his
hand and continued - "I will, however, as an exception, continue with it
today. But you should never arrive late like this again. And now, step
forward! " Someone jumped down from the podium so that there would be a
place free for K. , and K. stepped up onto it. He stood pressed closely
against the table, the press of the crowd behind him was so great that
he had to press back against it if he did not want to push the judge's
desk down off the podium and perhaps the judge along with it.
The judge, however, paid no attention to that but sat very
comfortably on his chair and, after saying a few words to close his
discussion with the man behind him, reached for a little note book, the
only item on his desk. It was like an old school exercise book and had
become quite misshapen from much thumbing. "Now then," said the judge,
thumbing through the book. He turned to K. with the tone of someone who
knows his facts and said, "you are a house painter? " "No," said K. , "I
am the chief clerk in a large bank. " This reply was followed by
laughter among the right hand faction down in the hall, it was so hearty
that K. couldn't stop himself joining in with it. The people supported
themselves with their hands on their knees and shook as if suffering a
serious attack of coughing. Even some of those in the gallery were
laughing. The judge had become quite cross but seemed to have no power
over those below him in the hall, he tried to reduce what harm had been
done in the gallery and jumped up threatening them, his eyebrows, until
then hardly remarkable, pushed themselves up and became big, black and
bushy over his eyes.
The left hand side of the hall was still quiet, though, the people
stood there in rows with their faces looking towards the podium
listening to what was being said there, they observed the noise from the
other side of the hall with the same quietness and even allowed some
individuals from their own ranks, here and there, to go forward into the
other faction. The people in the left faction were not only fewer in
number than the right but probably were no more important than them,
although their behaviour was calmer and that made it seem like they
were. When K. now began to speak he was convinced he was doing it in
the same way as them.
"Your question, My Lord, as to whether I am a house painter - in
fact even more than that, you did not ask at all but merely imposed it
on me - is symptomatic of the whole way these proceedings against me are
being carried out. Perhaps you will object that there are no
proceedings against me. You will be quite right, as there are
proceedings only if I acknowledge that there are. But, for the moment,
I do acknowledge it, out of pity for yourselves to a large extent. It's
impossible not to observe all this business without feeling pity. I
don't say things are being done without due care but I would like to
make it clear that it is I who make the acknowledgement. "
K. stopped speaking and looked down into the hall. He had spoken
sharply, more sharply than he had intended, but he had been quite right.
It should have been rewarded with some applause here and there but
everything was quiet, they were all clearly waiting for what would
follow, perhaps the quietness was laying the ground for an outbreak of
activity that would bring this whole affair to an end. It was somewhat
disturbing that just then the door at the end of the hall opened, the
young washerwoman, who seemed to have finished her work, came in and,
despite all her caution, attracted the attention of some of the people
there. It was only the judge who gave K. any direct pleasure, as he
seemed to have been immediately struck by K. 's words. Until then, he
had listened to him standing, as K. 's speech had taken him by surprise
while he was directing his attention to the gallery. Now, in the pause,
he sat down very slowly, as if he did not want anyone to notice. He
took out the notebook again, probably so that he could give the
impression of being calmer.
"That won't help you, sir," continued K. , "even your little book
will only confirm what I say. " K. was satisfied to hear nothing but his
own quiet words in this room full of strangers, and he even dared
casually to pick up the examining judge's notebook and, touching it only
with the tips of his fingers as if it were something revolting, lifted
it in the air, holding it just by one of the middle pages so that the
others on each side of it, closely written, blotted and yellowing,
flapped down. "Those are the official notes of the examining judge," he
said, and let the notebook fall down onto the desk. "You can read in
your book as much as you like, sir, I really don't have anything in this
charge book to be afraid of, even though I don't have access to it as I
wouldn't want it in my hand, I can only touch it with two fingers. " The
judge grabbed the notebook from where it had fallen on the desk - which
could only have been a sign of his deep humiliation, or at least that is
how it must have been perceived - tried to tidy it up a little, and held
it once more in front of himself in order to read from it.
The people in the front row looked up at him, showing such tension
on their faces that he looked 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 the crucial group who could turn the whole assembly one way
or the other? They had sunk into a state of motionlessness while K.
gave his oration, and it had not been possible to raise them from this
passivity even when the judge was being humiliated. "What has happened
to me," continued K. , with less of the vigour he had had earlier, he
continually scanned the faces in the first row, and this gave his
address a somewhat nervous and distracted character, "what has happened
to me is not just an isolated case. If it were it would not be of much
importance as it's not of much importance to me, but it is a symptom of
proceedings which are carried out against many. It's on behalf of them
that I stand here now, not for myself alone. "
Without having intended it, he had raised his voice. Somewhere in
the hall, someone raised his hands and applauded him shouting, "Bravo!
Why not then? Bravo! Again I say, Bravo! " Some of the men in the
first row groped around in their beards, none of them looked round to
see who was shouting. Not even K. thought him of any importance but it
did raise his spirits; he no longer thought it at all necessary that all
of those in the hall should applaud him, it was enough if the majority
of them began to think about the matter and if only one of them, now
and then, was persuaded.
"I'm not trying to be a successful orator," said K. after this
thought, "that's probably more than I'm capable of anyway. I'm sure the
examining judge can speak far better than I can, it is part of his job
after all. All that I want is a public discussion of a public wrong.
Listen: ten days ago I was placed under arrest, the arrest itself is
something I laugh about but that's beside the point. They came for me
in the morning when I was still in bed. Maybe the order had been given
to arrest some house painter - that seems possible after what the judge
has said - someone who is as innocent as I am, but it was me they chose.
There were two police thugs occupying the next room. They could not
have taken better precautions if I had been a dangerous robber. And
these policemen were unprincipled riff-raff, they talked at me till I
was sick of it, they wanted bribes, they wanted to trick me into giving
them my clothes, they wanted money, supposedly so that they could bring
me my breakfast after they had blatantly eaten my own breakfast in front
of my eyes. And even that was not enough. I was led in front of the
supervisor in another room. This was the room of a lady who I have a
lot of respect for, and I was forced to look on while the supervisor and
the policemen made quite a mess of this room because of me, although not
through any fault of mine. It was not easy to stay calm, but I managed
to do so and was completely calm when I asked the supervisor why it was
that I was under arrest. If he were here he would have to confirm what
I say. I can see him now, sitting on the chair belonging to that lady I
mentioned - a picture of dull-witted arrogance. What do you think he
answered? What he told me, gentlemen, was basically nothing at all;
perhaps he really did know nothing, he had placed me under arrest and
was satisfied. In fact he had done more than that and brought three
junior employees from the bank where I work into the lady's room; they
had made themselves busy interfering with some photographs that belonged
to the lady and causing a mess. There was, of course, another reason
for bringing these employees; they, just like my landlady and her maid,
were expected to spread the news of my arrest and damage my public
reputation and in particular to remove me from my position at the bank.
Well they didn't succeed in any of that, not in the slightest, even my
landlady, who is quite a simple person - and I will give you here her
name in full respect, her name is Mrs. Grubach - even Mrs. Grubach was
understanding enough to see that an arrest like this has no more
significance than an attack carried out on the street by some youths who
are not kept under proper control. I repeat, this whole affair has
caused me nothing but unpleasantness and temporary irritation, but could
it not also have had some far worse consequences? "
K. broke off here and looked at the judge, who said nothing. As
he did so he thought he saw the judge use a movement of his eyes to give
a sign to someone in the crowd. K. smiled and said, "And now the judge,
right next to me, is giving a secret sign to someone among you. There
seems to be someone among you who is taking directions from above. I
don't know whether the sign is meant to produce booing or applause, but
I'll resist trying to guess what its meaning is too soon. It really
doesn't matter to me, and I give his lordship the judge my full and
public permission to stop giving secret signs to his paid subordinate
down there and give his orders in words instead; let him just say "Boo
now! ," and then the next time "Clap now! ".
Whether it was embarrassment or impatience, the judge rocked
backwards and forwards on his seat. The man behind him, whom he had
been talking with earlier, leant forward again, either to give him a few
general words of encouragement or some specific piece of advice. Below
them in the hall the people talked to each other quietly but animatedly.
The two factions had earlier seemed to hold views strongly opposed to
each other but now they began to intermingle, a few individuals pointed
up at K. , others pointed at the judge. The air in the room was fuggy
and extremely oppressive, those who were standing furthest away could
hardly even be seen through it. It must have been especially
troublesome for those visitors who were in the gallery, as they were
forced to quietly ask the participants in the assembly what exactly was
happening, albeit with timid glances at the judge. The replies they
received were just as quiet, and given behind the protection of a raised
hand.
"I have nearly finished what I have to say," said K. , and as there
was no bell available he struck the desk with his fist in a way that
startled the judge and his advisor and made them look up from each
other. "None of this concerns me, and I am therefore able to make a calm
assessment of it, and, assuming that this so-called court is of any real
importance, it will be very much to your advantage to listen to what I
have to say. If you want to discuss what I say, please don't bother to
write it down until later on, I don't have any time to waste and I'll
soon be leaving. "
There was immediate silence, which showed how well K. was in
control of the crowd. There were no shouts among them as there had been
at the start, no-one even applauded, but if they weren't already
persuaded they seemed very close to it.
K was pleased at the tension among all the people there as they
listened to him, a rustling rose from the silence which was more
invigorating than the most ecstatic applause could have been. "There is
no doubt," he said quietly, "that there is some enormous organisation
determining what is said by this court. In my case this includes my
arrest and the examination taking place here today, an organisation that
employs policemen who can be bribed, oafish supervisors and judges of
whom nothing better can be said than that they are not as arrogant as
some others. This organisation even maintains a high-level judiciary
along with its train of countless servants, scribes, policemen and all
the other assistance that it needs, perhaps even executioners and
torturers - I'm not afraid of using those words. And what, gentlemen, is
the purpose of this enormous organisation? Its purpose is to arrest
innocent people and wage pointless prosecutions against them which, as
in my case, lead to no result. How are we to avoid those in office
becoming deeply corrupt when everything is devoid of meaning? That is
impossible, not even the highest judge would be able to achieve that for
himself. That is why policemen try to steal the clothes off the back of
those they arrest, that is why supervisors break into the homes of
people they do not know, that is why innocent people are humiliated in
front of crowds rather than being given a proper trial. The policemen
only talked about the warehouses where they put the property of those
they arrest, I would like to see these warehouses where the hard won
possessions of people under arrest is left to decay, if, that is, it's
not stolen by the thieving hands of the warehouse workers. "
K. was interrupted by a screeching from the far end of the hall,
he shaded his eyes to see that far, as the dull light of day made the
smoke whitish and hard to see through. It was the washerwoman whom K.
had recognised as a likely source of disturbance as soon as she had
entered. It was hard to see now whether it was her fault or not. K.
could only see that a man had pulled her into a corner by the door and
was pressing himself against her. But it was not her who was screaming,
but the man, he had opened his mouth wide and looked up at the ceiling.
A small circle had formed around the two of them, the visitors near him
in the gallery seemed delighted that the serious tone K. had introduced
into the gathering had been disturbed in this way. K. 's first thought
was to run over there, and he also thought that everyone would want to
bring things back into order there or at least to make the pair leave
the room, but the first row of people in front of him stayed were they
were, no-one moved and no-one let K. through. On the contrary, they
stood in his way, old men held out their arms in front of him and a hand
from somewhere - he did not have the time to turn round - took hold of
his collar. K. , by this time, had forgotten about the pair, it seemed
to him that his freedom was being limited as if his arrest was being
taken seriously, and, without any thought for what he was doing, he
jumped down from the podium. Now he stood face to face with the crowd.
Had he judged the people properly? Had he put too much faith in the
effect of his speech? Had they been putting up a pretence all the time
he had been speaking, and now that he come to the end and to what must
follow, were they tired of pretending? What faces they were, all around
him! Dark, little eyes flickered here and there, cheeks drooped down
like on drunken men, their long beards were thin and stiff, if they took
hold of them it was more like they were making their hands into claws,
not as if they were taking hold of their own beards. But underneath
those beards - and this was the real discovery made by K. - there were
badges of various sizes and colours shining on the collars of their
coats. As far as he could see, every one of them was wearing one of
these badges. All of them belonged to the same group, even though they
seemed to be divided to the right and the left of him, and when he
suddenly turned round he saw the same badge on the collar of the
examining judge who calmly looked down at him with his hands in his lap.
"So," called out K, throwing his arms in the air as if this sudden
realisation needed more room, "all of you are working for this
organisation, I see now that you are all the very bunch of cheats and
liars I've just been speaking about, you've all pressed yourselves in
here in order to listen in and snoop on me, you gave the impression of
having formed into factions, one of you even applauded me to test me
out, and you wanted to learn how to trap an innocent man! Well, I hope
you haven't come here for nothing, I hope you've either had some fun
from someone who expected you to defend his innocence or else - let go
of me or I'll hit you," shouted K. to a quivery old man who had pressed
himself especially close to him - "or else that you've actually learned
something. And so I wish you good luck in your trade. " He briskly took
his hat from where it lay on the edge of the table and, surrounded by a
silence caused perhaps by the completeness of their surprise, pushed his
way to the exit. However, the examining judge seems to have moved even
more quickly than K. , as he was waiting for him at the doorway. "One
moment," he said. K. stood where he was, but looked at the door with
his hand already on its handle rather than at the judge. "I merely
wanted to draw your attention," said the judge, "to something you seem
not yet to be aware of: today, you have robbed yourself of the
advantages that a hearing of this sort always gives to someone who is
under arrest. " K. laughed towards the door. "You bunch of louts," he
called, "you can keep all your hearings as a present from me," then
opened the door and hurried down the steps. Behind him, the noise of
the assembly rose as it became lively once more and probably began to
discuss these events as if making a scientific study of them.
Chapter Three
In the empty Courtroom - The Student - The Offices
Every day over the following week, K. expected another summons to
arrive, he could not believe that his rejection of any more hearings had
been taken literally, and when the expected summons really had not come
by Saturday evening he took it to mean that he was expected, without
being told, to appear at the same place at the same time. So on Sunday,
he set out once more in the same direction, going without hesitation up
the steps and through the corridors; some of the people remembered him
and greeted him from their doorways, but he no longer needed to ask
anyone the way and soon arrived at the right door. It was opened as
soon as he knocked and, paying no attention to the woman he had seen
last time who was standing at the doorway, he was about to go straight
into the adjoining room when she said to him "There's no session today".
"What do you mean; no session? " he asked, unable to believe it. But the
woman persuaded him by opening the door to the next room. It was indeed
empty, and looked even more dismal empty than it had the previous
Sunday. On the podium stood the table exactly as it had been before
with a few books laying on it. "Can I have a look at those books? "
asked K. , not because he was especially curious but so that he would not
have come for nothing. "No," said the woman as she re-closed the door,
"that's not allowed. Those books belong to the examining judge. " "I
see," said K. , and nodded, "those books must be law books, and that's
how this court does things, not only to try people who are innocent but
even to try them without letting them know what's going on. " "I expect
you're right," said the woman, who had not understood exactly what he
meant. "I'd better go away again, then," said K.
"Should I give a message to the examining judge? " asked the woman. "Do
you know him, then? " asked K. "Of course I know him," said the woman,
"my husband is the court usher. " It was only now that K. noticed that
the room, which before had held nothing but a wash-tub, had been fitted
out as a living room. The woman saw how surprised he was and said,
"Yes, we're allowed to live here as we like, only we have to clear the
room out when the court's in session. There's lots of disadvantages to
my husband's job. " "It's not so much the room that surprises me," said
K. , looking at her crossly, "it's your being married that shocks me. "
"Are you thinking about what happened last time the court was in
session, when I disturbed what you were saying? " asked the woman. "Of
course," said K.
, "it's in the past now and I've nearly forgotten about
it, but at the time it made me furious. And now you tell me yourself
that you are a married woman. " "It wasn't any disadvantage for you to
have your speech interrupted. The way they talked about you after you'd
gone was really bad. " "That could well be," said K. , turning away, "but
it does not excuse you. " "There's no-one I know who'd hold it against
me," said the woman. "Him, who put his arms around me, he's been chasing
after me for a long time. I might not be very attractive for most
people, but I am for him. I've got no protection from him, even my
husband has had to get used to it; if he wants to keep his job he's got
to put up with it as that man's a student and he'll almost certainly be
very powerful later on. He's always after me, he'd only just left when
you arrived. " "That fits in with everything else," said K. , "I'm not
surprised. " "Do you want to make things a bit better here? " the woman
asked slowly, watching him as if she were saying something that could be
as dangerous for K. as for herself. "That's what I thought when I heard
you speak, I really liked what you said. Mind you, I only heard part of
it, I missed the beginning of it and at the end I was lying on the floor
with the student - it's so horrible here," she said after a pause, and
took hold of K. 's hand. "Do you believe you really will be able to make
things better? " K. smiled and twisted his hand round a little in her
soft hands. "It's really not my job to make things better here, as you
put it," he said, "and if you said that to the examining judge he would
laugh at you or punish you for it. I really would not have become
involved in this matter if I could have helped it, and I would have lost
no sleep worrying about how this court needs to be made better. But
because I'm told that I have been arrested - and I am under arrest - it
forces me to take some action, and to do so for my own sake. However,
if I can be of some service to you in the process I will, of course, be
glad to do so. And I will be glad to do so not only for the sake of
charity but also because you can be of some help to me. " "How could I
help you, then? " said the woman. "You could, for example, show me the
books on the table there. " "Yes, certainly," the woman cried, and
pulled K. along behind her as she rushed to them. The books were old
and well worn, the cover of one of them had nearly broken through in its
middle, and it was held together with a few threads. "Everything is so
dirty here," said K. , shaking his head, and before he could pick the
books up the woman wiped some of the dust off with her apron. K. took
hold of the book that lay on top and threw it open, an indecent picture
appeared. A man and a woman sat naked on a sofa, the base intent of
whoever drew it was easy to see but he had been so grossly lacking in
skill that all that anyone could really make out were the man and the
woman who dominated the picture with their bodies, sitting in overly
upright postures that created a false perspective and made it difficult
for them to approach each other. K. didn't thumb through that book any
more, but just threw open the next one at its title page, it was a novel
with the title, What Grete Suffered from her Husband, Hans. "So this is
the sort of law book they study here," said K. , "this is the sort of
person sitting in judgement over me. " "I can help you," said the woman,
"would you like me to? " "Could you really do that without placing
yourself in danger? You did say earlier on that your husband is wholly
dependent on his superiors. " "I still want to help you," said the
woman, "come over here, we've got to talk about it. Don't say any more
about what danger I'm in, I only fear danger where I want to fear it.
Come over here. " She pointed to the podium and invited him to sit down
on the step with her. "You've got lovely dark eyes," she said after
they had sat down, looking up into K. 's face, "people say I've got nice
eyes too, but yours are much nicer. It was the first thing I noticed
when you first came here. That's even why I came in here, into the
assembly room, afterwards, I'd never normally do that, I'm not really
even allowed to. " So that's what all this is about, thought K. , she's
offering herself to me, she's as degenerate as everything else around
here, she's had enough of the court officials, which is understandable I
suppose, and so she approaches any stranger and makes compliments about
his eyes. With that, K. stood up in silence as if he had spoken his
thoughts out loud and thus explained his action to the woman. "I don't
think you can be of any assistance to me," he said, "to be of any real
assistance you would need to be in contact with high officials. But I'm
sure you only know the lower employees, and there are crowds of them
milling about here. I'm sure you're very familiar with them and could
achieve a great deal through them, I've no doubt of that, but the most
that could be done through them would have no bearing at all on the
final outcome of the trial. You, on the other hand, would lose some of
your friends as a result, and I have no wish of that. Carry on with
these people in the same way as you have been, as it does seem to me to
be something you cannot do without. I have no regrets in saying this
as, in return for your compliment to me, I also find you rather
attractive, especially when you look at me as sadly as you are now,
although you really have no reason to do so. You belong to the people I
have to combat, and you're very comfortable among them, you're even in
love with the student, or if you don't love him you do at least prefer
him to your husband. It's easy to see that from what you've been
saying. " "No! " she shouted, remained sitting where she was and grasped
K. 's hand, which he failed to pull away fast enough. "You can't go away
now, you can't go away when you've misjudged me like that! Are you
really capable of going away now? Am I really so worthless that you
won't even do me the favour of staying a little bit longer? " "You
misunderstand me," said K. , sitting back down, "if it's really important
to you for me to stay here then I'll be glad to do so, I have plenty of
time, I came here thinking there would be a trial taking place. All I
meant with what I said just now was to ask you not to do anything on my
behalf in the proceedings against me. But even that is nothing for you
to worry about when you consider that there's nothing hanging on the
outcome of this trial, and that, whatever the verdict, I will just laugh
at it. And that's even presupposing it ever even reaches any
conclusion, which I very much doubt. I think it's much more likely that
the court officials will be too lazy, too forgetful, or even to fearful
ever to continue with these proceedings and that they will soon be
abandoned if they haven't been abandoned already. It's even possible
that they will pretend to be carrying on with the trial in the hope of
receiving a large bribe, although I can tell you now that that will be
quite in vain as I pay bribes to no-one. Perhaps one favour you could
do me would be to tell the examining judge, or anyone else who likes to
spread important news, that I will never be induced to pay any sort of
bribe through any stratagem of theirs - and I'm sure they have many
stratagems at their disposal. There is no prospect of that, you can
tell them that quite openly. And what's more, I expect they have
already noticed themselves, or even if they haven't, this affair is
really not so important to me as they think. Those gentlemen would only
save some work for themselves, or at least some unpleasantness for me,
which, however, I am glad to endure if I know that each piece of
unpleasantness for me is a blow against them. And I will make quite
sure it is a blow against them. Do you actually know the judge? "
"Course I do," said the woman, "he was the first one I thought of when I
offered to help you. I didn't know he's only a minor official, but if
you say so it must be true. Mind you, I still think the report he gives
to his superiors must have some influence. And he writes so many
reports. You say these officials are lazy, but they're certainly not
all lazy, especially this examining judge, he writes ever such a lot.
Last Sunday, for instance, that session went on till the evening.
Everyone had gone, but the examining judge, he stayed in the hall, I had
to bring him a lamp in, all I had was a little kitchen lamp but he was
very satisfied with it and started to write straight away. Meantime my
husband arrived, he always has the day off on Sundays, we got the
furniture back in and got our room sorted out and then a few of the
neighbours came, we sat and talked for a bit by a candle, in short, we
forgot all about the examining judge and went to bed. All of a sudden
in the night, it must have been quite late in the night, I wakes up,
next to the bed, there's the examining judge shading the lamp with his
hand so that there's no light from it falls on my husband, he didn't
need to be as careful as that, the way my husband sleeps the light
wouldn't have woken him up anyway. I was quite shocked and nearly
screamed, but the judge was very friendly, warned me I should be
careful, he whispered to me he's been writing all this time, and now
he's brought me the lamp back, and he'll never forget how I looked when
he found me there asleep. What I mean, with all this, I just wanted to
tell you how the examining judge really does write lots of reports,
especially about you as questioning you was definitely one of the main
things on the agenda that Sunday. If he writes reports as long as that
they must be of some importance. And besides all that, you can see
from what happened that the examining judge is after me, and it's right
now, when he's first begun to notice me, that I can have a lot of
influence on him. And I've got other proof I mean a lot to him, too.
Yesterday, he sent that student to me, the one he really trusts and who
he works with, he sent him with a present for me, silk stockings. He
said it was because I clear up in the courtroom but that's only a
pretence, that job's no more than what I'm supposed to do, it's what my
husband gets paid for. Nice stockings, they are, look," - she stretched
out her leg, drew her skirt up to her knee and looked, herself, at the
stocking - "they are nice stockings, but they're too good for me,
really. "
She suddenly interrupted herself and lay her hand on K. 's as if
she wanted to calm him down, and whispered, "Be quiet, Berthold is
watching us. " K. slowly looked up. In the doorway to the courtroom
stood a young man, he was short, his legs were not quite straight, and
he continually moved his finger round in a short, thin, red beard with
which he hoped to make himself look dignified. K. looked at him with
some curiosity, he was the first student he had ever met of the
unfamiliar discipline of jurisprudence, face to face at least, a man who
would even most likely attain high office one day. The student, in
contrast, seemed to take no notice of K. at all, he merely withdrew his
finger from his beard long enough to beckon to the woman and went over
to the window, the woman leant over to K. and whispered, "Don't be cross
with me, please don't, and please don't think ill of me either, I've got
to go to him now, to this horrible man, just look at his bent legs. But
I'll come straight back and then I'll go with you if you'll take me,
I'll go wherever you want, you can do whatever you like with me, I'll be
happy if I can be away from here for as long as possible, it'd be best
if I could get away from here for good. " She stroked K. 's hand once
more, jumped up and ran over to the window. Before he realised it, K.
grasped for her hand but failed to catch it. He really was attracted
to the woman, and even after thinking hard about it could find no good
reason why he should not give in to her allure. It briefly crossed his
mind that the woman meant to entrap him on behalf of the court, but that
was an objection he had no difficulty in fending off. In what way could
she entrap him? Was he not still free, so free that he could crush the
entire court whenever he wanted, as least where it concerned him? Could
he not have that much confidence in himself? And her offer of help
sounded sincere, and maybe it wasn't quite worthless. And maybe there
was no better revenge against the examining judge and his cronies than
to take this woman from him and have her for himself. Maybe then, after
much hard work writing dishonest reports about K. , the judge would go to
the woman's bed late one night and find it empty. And it would be empty
because she belonged to K. , because this woman at the window, this lush,
supple, warm body in its sombre clothes of rough, heavy material
belonged to him, totally to him and to him alone. Once he had settled
his thoughts towards the woman in this way, he began to find the quiet
conversation at the window was taking too long, he rapped on the podium
with his knuckles, and then even with his fist. The student briefly
looked away from the woman to glance at K. over his shoulder but did
allow himself to be disturbed, in fact he even pressed himself close to
the woman and put his arms around her. She dropped her head down low as
if listening to him carefully, as she did so he kissed her right on the
neck, hardly even interrupting what he was saying. K. saw this as
confirmation of the tyranny the student held over the woman and which
she had already complained about, he stood up and walked up and down the
room. Glancing sideways at the student, he wondered what would be the
quickest possible way to get rid of him, and so it was not unwelcome to
him when the student, clearly disturbed by K. 's to-ing and fro-ing which
K. had now developed into a stamping up and down, said to him,
"You don't have to stay here, you know, if you're getting impatient.
You could have gone earlier, no-one would have missed you. In fact you
should have gone, you should have left as quickly as possible as soon as
I got here. " This comment could have caused all possible rage to break
out between them, but K. also bore in mind that this was a prospective
court official speaking to a disfavoured defendant, and he might well
have been taking pride in speaking in this way. K. remained standing
quite close to him and said with a smile, "You're quite right, I am
impatient, but the easiest way to settle this impatience would be if you
left us. On the other hand, if you've come here to study - you are a
student, I hear - I'll be quite happy to leave the room to you and go
away with the woman. I'm sure you'll still have a lot of study to do
before you're made into a judge. It's true that I'm still not all that
familiar with your branch of jurisprudence but I take it it involves a
lot more than speaking roughly - and I see you have no shame in doing
that extremely well. " "He shouldn't have been allowed to move about so
freely," said the student, as if he wanted to give the woman an
explanation for K. 's insults, "that was a mistake. I've told the
examining judge so. He should at least have been detained in his room
between hearings. Sometimes it's impossible to understand what the
judge thinks he's doing. "
"You're wasting your breath," said K. , then he reached his hand out
towards the woman and said, "come with me. " "So that's it," said the
student, "oh no, you're not going to get her," and with a strength you
would not have expected from him, he glanced tenderly at her, lifted her
up on one arm and, his back bent under the weight, ran with her to the
door. In this way he showed, unmistakeably, that he was to some extent
afraid of K. , but he nonetheless dared to provoke him still further by
stroking and squeezing the woman's arm with his free hand. K. ran the
few steps up to him, but when he had reached him and was about to take
hold of him and, if necessary, throttle him, the woman said, "It's no
good, it's the examining judge who's sent for me, I daren't go with you,
this little bastard. . . " and here she ran her hand over the student's
face, "this little bastard won't let me. " "And you don't want to be set
free! " shouted K. , laying his hand on the student's shoulder, who then
snapped at it with his teeth. "No! " shouted the woman, pushing K. away
with both hands, "no, no don't do that, what d'you think you're doing! ?
That'd be the end of me. Let go of him, please just let go of him.
He's only carrying out the judge's orders, he's carrying me to him. "
"Let him take you then, and I want to see nothing more of you," said K. ,
enraged by his disappointment and giving the student a thump in the back
so that he briefly stumbled and then, glad that he had not fallen,
immediately jumped up all the higher with his burden. K. followed them
slowly. He realised that this was the first unambiguous setback he had
suffered from these people. It was of course nothing to worry about, he
accepted the setback only because he was looking for a fight. If he
stayed at home and carried on with his normal life he would be a
thousand times superior to these people and could get any of them out of
his way just with a kick. And he imagined the most laughable scene
possible as an example of this, if this contemptible student, this
inflated child, this knock-kneed redbeard, if he were kneeling at Elsa's
bed wringing his hands and begging for forgiveness. K. so enjoyed
imagining this scene that he decided to take the student along to Elsa
with him if ever he should get the opportunity.
K. was curious to see where the woman would be taken and he
hurried over to the door, the student was not likely to carry her
through the streets on his arm. It turned out that the journey was far
shorter. Directly opposite the flat there was a narrow flight of wooden
steps which probably led up to the attic, they turned as they went so
that it was not possible to see where they ended. The student carried
the woman up these steps, and after the exertions of running with her he
was soon groaning and moving very slowly. The woman waved down at K.
and by raising and lowering her shoulders she tried to show that she was
an innocent party in this abduction, although the gesture did not show a
lot of regret. K. watched her without expression like a stranger, he
wanted to show neither that he was disappointed nor that he would easily
get over his disappointment.
The two of them had disappeared, but K. remained standing in the
doorway. He had to accept that the woman had not only cheated him but
that she had also lied to him when she said she was being taken to the
examining judge. The examining judge certainly wouldn't be sitting and
waiting in the attic. The wooden stairs would explain nothing to him
however long he stared at them. Then K. noticed a small piece of paper
next to them, went across to it and read, in a childish and unpractised
hand, "Entrance to the Court Offices". Were the court offices here, in
the attic of this tenement, then? If that was how they were
accommodated it did not attract much respect, and it was some comfort
for the accused to realise how little money this court had at its
disposal if it had to locate its offices in a place where the tenants of
the building, who were themselves among the poorest of people, would
throw their unneeded junk. On the other hand, it was possible that the
officials had enough money but that they squandered it on themselves
rather than use it for the court's purposes. Going by K. 's experience
of them so far, that even seemed probable, except that if the court were
allowed to decay in that way it would not just humiliate the accused but
also give him more encouragement than if the court were simply in a
state of poverty.
to get on your side, thought K. , and was bothered only by the quiet from
the left hand side which was directly behind him and from which there
was applause from only a few individuals. He wondered what he could say
to get all of them to support him together or, if that were not
possible, to at least get the support of the others for a while.
"Yes," said the man, "but I'm now no longer under any obligation
to hear your case" - there was once more a muttering, but this time it
was misleading as the man waved the people's objections aside with his
hand and continued - "I will, however, as an exception, continue with it
today. But you should never arrive late like this again. And now, step
forward! " Someone jumped down from the podium so that there would be a
place free for K. , and K. stepped up onto it. He stood pressed closely
against the table, the press of the crowd behind him was so great that
he had to press back against it if he did not want to push the judge's
desk down off the podium and perhaps the judge along with it.
The judge, however, paid no attention to that but sat very
comfortably on his chair and, after saying a few words to close his
discussion with the man behind him, reached for a little note book, the
only item on his desk. It was like an old school exercise book and had
become quite misshapen from much thumbing. "Now then," said the judge,
thumbing through the book. He turned to K. with the tone of someone who
knows his facts and said, "you are a house painter? " "No," said K. , "I
am the chief clerk in a large bank. " This reply was followed by
laughter among the right hand faction down in the hall, it was so hearty
that K. couldn't stop himself joining in with it. The people supported
themselves with their hands on their knees and shook as if suffering a
serious attack of coughing. Even some of those in the gallery were
laughing. The judge had become quite cross but seemed to have no power
over those below him in the hall, he tried to reduce what harm had been
done in the gallery and jumped up threatening them, his eyebrows, until
then hardly remarkable, pushed themselves up and became big, black and
bushy over his eyes.
The left hand side of the hall was still quiet, though, the people
stood there in rows with their faces looking towards the podium
listening to what was being said there, they observed the noise from the
other side of the hall with the same quietness and even allowed some
individuals from their own ranks, here and there, to go forward into the
other faction. The people in the left faction were not only fewer in
number than the right but probably were no more important than them,
although their behaviour was calmer and that made it seem like they
were. When K. now began to speak he was convinced he was doing it in
the same way as them.
"Your question, My Lord, as to whether I am a house painter - in
fact even more than that, you did not ask at all but merely imposed it
on me - is symptomatic of the whole way these proceedings against me are
being carried out. Perhaps you will object that there are no
proceedings against me. You will be quite right, as there are
proceedings only if I acknowledge that there are. But, for the moment,
I do acknowledge it, out of pity for yourselves to a large extent. It's
impossible not to observe all this business without feeling pity. I
don't say things are being done without due care but I would like to
make it clear that it is I who make the acknowledgement. "
K. stopped speaking and looked down into the hall. He had spoken
sharply, more sharply than he had intended, but he had been quite right.
It should have been rewarded with some applause here and there but
everything was quiet, they were all clearly waiting for what would
follow, perhaps the quietness was laying the ground for an outbreak of
activity that would bring this whole affair to an end. It was somewhat
disturbing that just then the door at the end of the hall opened, the
young washerwoman, who seemed to have finished her work, came in and,
despite all her caution, attracted the attention of some of the people
there. It was only the judge who gave K. any direct pleasure, as he
seemed to have been immediately struck by K. 's words. Until then, he
had listened to him standing, as K. 's speech had taken him by surprise
while he was directing his attention to the gallery. Now, in the pause,
he sat down very slowly, as if he did not want anyone to notice. He
took out the notebook again, probably so that he could give the
impression of being calmer.
"That won't help you, sir," continued K. , "even your little book
will only confirm what I say. " K. was satisfied to hear nothing but his
own quiet words in this room full of strangers, and he even dared
casually to pick up the examining judge's notebook and, touching it only
with the tips of his fingers as if it were something revolting, lifted
it in the air, holding it just by one of the middle pages so that the
others on each side of it, closely written, blotted and yellowing,
flapped down. "Those are the official notes of the examining judge," he
said, and let the notebook fall down onto the desk. "You can read in
your book as much as you like, sir, I really don't have anything in this
charge book to be afraid of, even though I don't have access to it as I
wouldn't want it in my hand, I can only touch it with two fingers. " The
judge grabbed the notebook from where it had fallen on the desk - which
could only have been a sign of his deep humiliation, or at least that is
how it must have been perceived - tried to tidy it up a little, and held
it once more in front of himself in order to read from it.
The people in the front row looked up at him, showing such tension
on their faces that he looked 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 the crucial group who could turn the whole assembly one way
or the other? They had sunk into a state of motionlessness while K.
gave his oration, and it had not been possible to raise them from this
passivity even when the judge was being humiliated. "What has happened
to me," continued K. , with less of the vigour he had had earlier, he
continually scanned the faces in the first row, and this gave his
address a somewhat nervous and distracted character, "what has happened
to me is not just an isolated case. If it were it would not be of much
importance as it's not of much importance to me, but it is a symptom of
proceedings which are carried out against many. It's on behalf of them
that I stand here now, not for myself alone. "
Without having intended it, he had raised his voice. Somewhere in
the hall, someone raised his hands and applauded him shouting, "Bravo!
Why not then? Bravo! Again I say, Bravo! " Some of the men in the
first row groped around in their beards, none of them looked round to
see who was shouting. Not even K. thought him of any importance but it
did raise his spirits; he no longer thought it at all necessary that all
of those in the hall should applaud him, it was enough if the majority
of them began to think about the matter and if only one of them, now
and then, was persuaded.
"I'm not trying to be a successful orator," said K. after this
thought, "that's probably more than I'm capable of anyway. I'm sure the
examining judge can speak far better than I can, it is part of his job
after all. All that I want is a public discussion of a public wrong.
Listen: ten days ago I was placed under arrest, the arrest itself is
something I laugh about but that's beside the point. They came for me
in the morning when I was still in bed. Maybe the order had been given
to arrest some house painter - that seems possible after what the judge
has said - someone who is as innocent as I am, but it was me they chose.
There were two police thugs occupying the next room. They could not
have taken better precautions if I had been a dangerous robber. And
these policemen were unprincipled riff-raff, they talked at me till I
was sick of it, they wanted bribes, they wanted to trick me into giving
them my clothes, they wanted money, supposedly so that they could bring
me my breakfast after they had blatantly eaten my own breakfast in front
of my eyes. And even that was not enough. I was led in front of the
supervisor in another room. This was the room of a lady who I have a
lot of respect for, and I was forced to look on while the supervisor and
the policemen made quite a mess of this room because of me, although not
through any fault of mine. It was not easy to stay calm, but I managed
to do so and was completely calm when I asked the supervisor why it was
that I was under arrest. If he were here he would have to confirm what
I say. I can see him now, sitting on the chair belonging to that lady I
mentioned - a picture of dull-witted arrogance. What do you think he
answered? What he told me, gentlemen, was basically nothing at all;
perhaps he really did know nothing, he had placed me under arrest and
was satisfied. In fact he had done more than that and brought three
junior employees from the bank where I work into the lady's room; they
had made themselves busy interfering with some photographs that belonged
to the lady and causing a mess. There was, of course, another reason
for bringing these employees; they, just like my landlady and her maid,
were expected to spread the news of my arrest and damage my public
reputation and in particular to remove me from my position at the bank.
Well they didn't succeed in any of that, not in the slightest, even my
landlady, who is quite a simple person - and I will give you here her
name in full respect, her name is Mrs. Grubach - even Mrs. Grubach was
understanding enough to see that an arrest like this has no more
significance than an attack carried out on the street by some youths who
are not kept under proper control. I repeat, this whole affair has
caused me nothing but unpleasantness and temporary irritation, but could
it not also have had some far worse consequences? "
K. broke off here and looked at the judge, who said nothing. As
he did so he thought he saw the judge use a movement of his eyes to give
a sign to someone in the crowd. K. smiled and said, "And now the judge,
right next to me, is giving a secret sign to someone among you. There
seems to be someone among you who is taking directions from above. I
don't know whether the sign is meant to produce booing or applause, but
I'll resist trying to guess what its meaning is too soon. It really
doesn't matter to me, and I give his lordship the judge my full and
public permission to stop giving secret signs to his paid subordinate
down there and give his orders in words instead; let him just say "Boo
now! ," and then the next time "Clap now! ".
Whether it was embarrassment or impatience, the judge rocked
backwards and forwards on his seat. The man behind him, whom he had
been talking with earlier, leant forward again, either to give him a few
general words of encouragement or some specific piece of advice. Below
them in the hall the people talked to each other quietly but animatedly.
The two factions had earlier seemed to hold views strongly opposed to
each other but now they began to intermingle, a few individuals pointed
up at K. , others pointed at the judge. The air in the room was fuggy
and extremely oppressive, those who were standing furthest away could
hardly even be seen through it. It must have been especially
troublesome for those visitors who were in the gallery, as they were
forced to quietly ask the participants in the assembly what exactly was
happening, albeit with timid glances at the judge. The replies they
received were just as quiet, and given behind the protection of a raised
hand.
"I have nearly finished what I have to say," said K. , and as there
was no bell available he struck the desk with his fist in a way that
startled the judge and his advisor and made them look up from each
other. "None of this concerns me, and I am therefore able to make a calm
assessment of it, and, assuming that this so-called court is of any real
importance, it will be very much to your advantage to listen to what I
have to say. If you want to discuss what I say, please don't bother to
write it down until later on, I don't have any time to waste and I'll
soon be leaving. "
There was immediate silence, which showed how well K. was in
control of the crowd. There were no shouts among them as there had been
at the start, no-one even applauded, but if they weren't already
persuaded they seemed very close to it.
K was pleased at the tension among all the people there as they
listened to him, a rustling rose from the silence which was more
invigorating than the most ecstatic applause could have been. "There is
no doubt," he said quietly, "that there is some enormous organisation
determining what is said by this court. In my case this includes my
arrest and the examination taking place here today, an organisation that
employs policemen who can be bribed, oafish supervisors and judges of
whom nothing better can be said than that they are not as arrogant as
some others. This organisation even maintains a high-level judiciary
along with its train of countless servants, scribes, policemen and all
the other assistance that it needs, perhaps even executioners and
torturers - I'm not afraid of using those words. And what, gentlemen, is
the purpose of this enormous organisation? Its purpose is to arrest
innocent people and wage pointless prosecutions against them which, as
in my case, lead to no result. How are we to avoid those in office
becoming deeply corrupt when everything is devoid of meaning? That is
impossible, not even the highest judge would be able to achieve that for
himself. That is why policemen try to steal the clothes off the back of
those they arrest, that is why supervisors break into the homes of
people they do not know, that is why innocent people are humiliated in
front of crowds rather than being given a proper trial. The policemen
only talked about the warehouses where they put the property of those
they arrest, I would like to see these warehouses where the hard won
possessions of people under arrest is left to decay, if, that is, it's
not stolen by the thieving hands of the warehouse workers. "
K. was interrupted by a screeching from the far end of the hall,
he shaded his eyes to see that far, as the dull light of day made the
smoke whitish and hard to see through. It was the washerwoman whom K.
had recognised as a likely source of disturbance as soon as she had
entered. It was hard to see now whether it was her fault or not. K.
could only see that a man had pulled her into a corner by the door and
was pressing himself against her. But it was not her who was screaming,
but the man, he had opened his mouth wide and looked up at the ceiling.
A small circle had formed around the two of them, the visitors near him
in the gallery seemed delighted that the serious tone K. had introduced
into the gathering had been disturbed in this way. K. 's first thought
was to run over there, and he also thought that everyone would want to
bring things back into order there or at least to make the pair leave
the room, but the first row of people in front of him stayed were they
were, no-one moved and no-one let K. through. On the contrary, they
stood in his way, old men held out their arms in front of him and a hand
from somewhere - he did not have the time to turn round - took hold of
his collar. K. , by this time, had forgotten about the pair, it seemed
to him that his freedom was being limited as if his arrest was being
taken seriously, and, without any thought for what he was doing, he
jumped down from the podium. Now he stood face to face with the crowd.
Had he judged the people properly? Had he put too much faith in the
effect of his speech? Had they been putting up a pretence all the time
he had been speaking, and now that he come to the end and to what must
follow, were they tired of pretending? What faces they were, all around
him! Dark, little eyes flickered here and there, cheeks drooped down
like on drunken men, their long beards were thin and stiff, if they took
hold of them it was more like they were making their hands into claws,
not as if they were taking hold of their own beards. But underneath
those beards - and this was the real discovery made by K. - there were
badges of various sizes and colours shining on the collars of their
coats. As far as he could see, every one of them was wearing one of
these badges. All of them belonged to the same group, even though they
seemed to be divided to the right and the left of him, and when he
suddenly turned round he saw the same badge on the collar of the
examining judge who calmly looked down at him with his hands in his lap.
"So," called out K, throwing his arms in the air as if this sudden
realisation needed more room, "all of you are working for this
organisation, I see now that you are all the very bunch of cheats and
liars I've just been speaking about, you've all pressed yourselves in
here in order to listen in and snoop on me, you gave the impression of
having formed into factions, one of you even applauded me to test me
out, and you wanted to learn how to trap an innocent man! Well, I hope
you haven't come here for nothing, I hope you've either had some fun
from someone who expected you to defend his innocence or else - let go
of me or I'll hit you," shouted K. to a quivery old man who had pressed
himself especially close to him - "or else that you've actually learned
something. And so I wish you good luck in your trade. " He briskly took
his hat from where it lay on the edge of the table and, surrounded by a
silence caused perhaps by the completeness of their surprise, pushed his
way to the exit. However, the examining judge seems to have moved even
more quickly than K. , as he was waiting for him at the doorway. "One
moment," he said. K. stood where he was, but looked at the door with
his hand already on its handle rather than at the judge. "I merely
wanted to draw your attention," said the judge, "to something you seem
not yet to be aware of: today, you have robbed yourself of the
advantages that a hearing of this sort always gives to someone who is
under arrest. " K. laughed towards the door. "You bunch of louts," he
called, "you can keep all your hearings as a present from me," then
opened the door and hurried down the steps. Behind him, the noise of
the assembly rose as it became lively once more and probably began to
discuss these events as if making a scientific study of them.
Chapter Three
In the empty Courtroom - The Student - The Offices
Every day over the following week, K. expected another summons to
arrive, he could not believe that his rejection of any more hearings had
been taken literally, and when the expected summons really had not come
by Saturday evening he took it to mean that he was expected, without
being told, to appear at the same place at the same time. So on Sunday,
he set out once more in the same direction, going without hesitation up
the steps and through the corridors; some of the people remembered him
and greeted him from their doorways, but he no longer needed to ask
anyone the way and soon arrived at the right door. It was opened as
soon as he knocked and, paying no attention to the woman he had seen
last time who was standing at the doorway, he was about to go straight
into the adjoining room when she said to him "There's no session today".
"What do you mean; no session? " he asked, unable to believe it. But the
woman persuaded him by opening the door to the next room. It was indeed
empty, and looked even more dismal empty than it had the previous
Sunday. On the podium stood the table exactly as it had been before
with a few books laying on it. "Can I have a look at those books? "
asked K. , not because he was especially curious but so that he would not
have come for nothing. "No," said the woman as she re-closed the door,
"that's not allowed. Those books belong to the examining judge. " "I
see," said K. , and nodded, "those books must be law books, and that's
how this court does things, not only to try people who are innocent but
even to try them without letting them know what's going on. " "I expect
you're right," said the woman, who had not understood exactly what he
meant. "I'd better go away again, then," said K.
"Should I give a message to the examining judge? " asked the woman. "Do
you know him, then? " asked K. "Of course I know him," said the woman,
"my husband is the court usher. " It was only now that K. noticed that
the room, which before had held nothing but a wash-tub, had been fitted
out as a living room. The woman saw how surprised he was and said,
"Yes, we're allowed to live here as we like, only we have to clear the
room out when the court's in session. There's lots of disadvantages to
my husband's job. " "It's not so much the room that surprises me," said
K. , looking at her crossly, "it's your being married that shocks me. "
"Are you thinking about what happened last time the court was in
session, when I disturbed what you were saying? " asked the woman. "Of
course," said K.
, "it's in the past now and I've nearly forgotten about
it, but at the time it made me furious. And now you tell me yourself
that you are a married woman. " "It wasn't any disadvantage for you to
have your speech interrupted. The way they talked about you after you'd
gone was really bad. " "That could well be," said K. , turning away, "but
it does not excuse you. " "There's no-one I know who'd hold it against
me," said the woman. "Him, who put his arms around me, he's been chasing
after me for a long time. I might not be very attractive for most
people, but I am for him. I've got no protection from him, even my
husband has had to get used to it; if he wants to keep his job he's got
to put up with it as that man's a student and he'll almost certainly be
very powerful later on. He's always after me, he'd only just left when
you arrived. " "That fits in with everything else," said K. , "I'm not
surprised. " "Do you want to make things a bit better here? " the woman
asked slowly, watching him as if she were saying something that could be
as dangerous for K. as for herself. "That's what I thought when I heard
you speak, I really liked what you said. Mind you, I only heard part of
it, I missed the beginning of it and at the end I was lying on the floor
with the student - it's so horrible here," she said after a pause, and
took hold of K. 's hand. "Do you believe you really will be able to make
things better? " K. smiled and twisted his hand round a little in her
soft hands. "It's really not my job to make things better here, as you
put it," he said, "and if you said that to the examining judge he would
laugh at you or punish you for it. I really would not have become
involved in this matter if I could have helped it, and I would have lost
no sleep worrying about how this court needs to be made better. But
because I'm told that I have been arrested - and I am under arrest - it
forces me to take some action, and to do so for my own sake. However,
if I can be of some service to you in the process I will, of course, be
glad to do so. And I will be glad to do so not only for the sake of
charity but also because you can be of some help to me. " "How could I
help you, then? " said the woman. "You could, for example, show me the
books on the table there. " "Yes, certainly," the woman cried, and
pulled K. along behind her as she rushed to them. The books were old
and well worn, the cover of one of them had nearly broken through in its
middle, and it was held together with a few threads. "Everything is so
dirty here," said K. , shaking his head, and before he could pick the
books up the woman wiped some of the dust off with her apron. K. took
hold of the book that lay on top and threw it open, an indecent picture
appeared. A man and a woman sat naked on a sofa, the base intent of
whoever drew it was easy to see but he had been so grossly lacking in
skill that all that anyone could really make out were the man and the
woman who dominated the picture with their bodies, sitting in overly
upright postures that created a false perspective and made it difficult
for them to approach each other. K. didn't thumb through that book any
more, but just threw open the next one at its title page, it was a novel
with the title, What Grete Suffered from her Husband, Hans. "So this is
the sort of law book they study here," said K. , "this is the sort of
person sitting in judgement over me. " "I can help you," said the woman,
"would you like me to? " "Could you really do that without placing
yourself in danger? You did say earlier on that your husband is wholly
dependent on his superiors. " "I still want to help you," said the
woman, "come over here, we've got to talk about it. Don't say any more
about what danger I'm in, I only fear danger where I want to fear it.
Come over here. " She pointed to the podium and invited him to sit down
on the step with her. "You've got lovely dark eyes," she said after
they had sat down, looking up into K. 's face, "people say I've got nice
eyes too, but yours are much nicer. It was the first thing I noticed
when you first came here. That's even why I came in here, into the
assembly room, afterwards, I'd never normally do that, I'm not really
even allowed to. " So that's what all this is about, thought K. , she's
offering herself to me, she's as degenerate as everything else around
here, she's had enough of the court officials, which is understandable I
suppose, and so she approaches any stranger and makes compliments about
his eyes. With that, K. stood up in silence as if he had spoken his
thoughts out loud and thus explained his action to the woman. "I don't
think you can be of any assistance to me," he said, "to be of any real
assistance you would need to be in contact with high officials. But I'm
sure you only know the lower employees, and there are crowds of them
milling about here. I'm sure you're very familiar with them and could
achieve a great deal through them, I've no doubt of that, but the most
that could be done through them would have no bearing at all on the
final outcome of the trial. You, on the other hand, would lose some of
your friends as a result, and I have no wish of that. Carry on with
these people in the same way as you have been, as it does seem to me to
be something you cannot do without. I have no regrets in saying this
as, in return for your compliment to me, I also find you rather
attractive, especially when you look at me as sadly as you are now,
although you really have no reason to do so. You belong to the people I
have to combat, and you're very comfortable among them, you're even in
love with the student, or if you don't love him you do at least prefer
him to your husband. It's easy to see that from what you've been
saying. " "No! " she shouted, remained sitting where she was and grasped
K. 's hand, which he failed to pull away fast enough. "You can't go away
now, you can't go away when you've misjudged me like that! Are you
really capable of going away now? Am I really so worthless that you
won't even do me the favour of staying a little bit longer? " "You
misunderstand me," said K. , sitting back down, "if it's really important
to you for me to stay here then I'll be glad to do so, I have plenty of
time, I came here thinking there would be a trial taking place. All I
meant with what I said just now was to ask you not to do anything on my
behalf in the proceedings against me. But even that is nothing for you
to worry about when you consider that there's nothing hanging on the
outcome of this trial, and that, whatever the verdict, I will just laugh
at it. And that's even presupposing it ever even reaches any
conclusion, which I very much doubt. I think it's much more likely that
the court officials will be too lazy, too forgetful, or even to fearful
ever to continue with these proceedings and that they will soon be
abandoned if they haven't been abandoned already. It's even possible
that they will pretend to be carrying on with the trial in the hope of
receiving a large bribe, although I can tell you now that that will be
quite in vain as I pay bribes to no-one. Perhaps one favour you could
do me would be to tell the examining judge, or anyone else who likes to
spread important news, that I will never be induced to pay any sort of
bribe through any stratagem of theirs - and I'm sure they have many
stratagems at their disposal. There is no prospect of that, you can
tell them that quite openly. And what's more, I expect they have
already noticed themselves, or even if they haven't, this affair is
really not so important to me as they think. Those gentlemen would only
save some work for themselves, or at least some unpleasantness for me,
which, however, I am glad to endure if I know that each piece of
unpleasantness for me is a blow against them. And I will make quite
sure it is a blow against them. Do you actually know the judge? "
"Course I do," said the woman, "he was the first one I thought of when I
offered to help you. I didn't know he's only a minor official, but if
you say so it must be true. Mind you, I still think the report he gives
to his superiors must have some influence. And he writes so many
reports. You say these officials are lazy, but they're certainly not
all lazy, especially this examining judge, he writes ever such a lot.
Last Sunday, for instance, that session went on till the evening.
Everyone had gone, but the examining judge, he stayed in the hall, I had
to bring him a lamp in, all I had was a little kitchen lamp but he was
very satisfied with it and started to write straight away. Meantime my
husband arrived, he always has the day off on Sundays, we got the
furniture back in and got our room sorted out and then a few of the
neighbours came, we sat and talked for a bit by a candle, in short, we
forgot all about the examining judge and went to bed. All of a sudden
in the night, it must have been quite late in the night, I wakes up,
next to the bed, there's the examining judge shading the lamp with his
hand so that there's no light from it falls on my husband, he didn't
need to be as careful as that, the way my husband sleeps the light
wouldn't have woken him up anyway. I was quite shocked and nearly
screamed, but the judge was very friendly, warned me I should be
careful, he whispered to me he's been writing all this time, and now
he's brought me the lamp back, and he'll never forget how I looked when
he found me there asleep. What I mean, with all this, I just wanted to
tell you how the examining judge really does write lots of reports,
especially about you as questioning you was definitely one of the main
things on the agenda that Sunday. If he writes reports as long as that
they must be of some importance. And besides all that, you can see
from what happened that the examining judge is after me, and it's right
now, when he's first begun to notice me, that I can have a lot of
influence on him. And I've got other proof I mean a lot to him, too.
Yesterday, he sent that student to me, the one he really trusts and who
he works with, he sent him with a present for me, silk stockings. He
said it was because I clear up in the courtroom but that's only a
pretence, that job's no more than what I'm supposed to do, it's what my
husband gets paid for. Nice stockings, they are, look," - she stretched
out her leg, drew her skirt up to her knee and looked, herself, at the
stocking - "they are nice stockings, but they're too good for me,
really. "
She suddenly interrupted herself and lay her hand on K. 's as if
she wanted to calm him down, and whispered, "Be quiet, Berthold is
watching us. " K. slowly looked up. In the doorway to the courtroom
stood a young man, he was short, his legs were not quite straight, and
he continually moved his finger round in a short, thin, red beard with
which he hoped to make himself look dignified. K. looked at him with
some curiosity, he was the first student he had ever met of the
unfamiliar discipline of jurisprudence, face to face at least, a man who
would even most likely attain high office one day. The student, in
contrast, seemed to take no notice of K. at all, he merely withdrew his
finger from his beard long enough to beckon to the woman and went over
to the window, the woman leant over to K. and whispered, "Don't be cross
with me, please don't, and please don't think ill of me either, I've got
to go to him now, to this horrible man, just look at his bent legs. But
I'll come straight back and then I'll go with you if you'll take me,
I'll go wherever you want, you can do whatever you like with me, I'll be
happy if I can be away from here for as long as possible, it'd be best
if I could get away from here for good. " She stroked K. 's hand once
more, jumped up and ran over to the window. Before he realised it, K.
grasped for her hand but failed to catch it. He really was attracted
to the woman, and even after thinking hard about it could find no good
reason why he should not give in to her allure. It briefly crossed his
mind that the woman meant to entrap him on behalf of the court, but that
was an objection he had no difficulty in fending off. In what way could
she entrap him? Was he not still free, so free that he could crush the
entire court whenever he wanted, as least where it concerned him? Could
he not have that much confidence in himself? And her offer of help
sounded sincere, and maybe it wasn't quite worthless. And maybe there
was no better revenge against the examining judge and his cronies than
to take this woman from him and have her for himself. Maybe then, after
much hard work writing dishonest reports about K. , the judge would go to
the woman's bed late one night and find it empty. And it would be empty
because she belonged to K. , because this woman at the window, this lush,
supple, warm body in its sombre clothes of rough, heavy material
belonged to him, totally to him and to him alone. Once he had settled
his thoughts towards the woman in this way, he began to find the quiet
conversation at the window was taking too long, he rapped on the podium
with his knuckles, and then even with his fist. The student briefly
looked away from the woman to glance at K. over his shoulder but did
allow himself to be disturbed, in fact he even pressed himself close to
the woman and put his arms around her. She dropped her head down low as
if listening to him carefully, as she did so he kissed her right on the
neck, hardly even interrupting what he was saying. K. saw this as
confirmation of the tyranny the student held over the woman and which
she had already complained about, he stood up and walked up and down the
room. Glancing sideways at the student, he wondered what would be the
quickest possible way to get rid of him, and so it was not unwelcome to
him when the student, clearly disturbed by K. 's to-ing and fro-ing which
K. had now developed into a stamping up and down, said to him,
"You don't have to stay here, you know, if you're getting impatient.
You could have gone earlier, no-one would have missed you. In fact you
should have gone, you should have left as quickly as possible as soon as
I got here. " This comment could have caused all possible rage to break
out between them, but K. also bore in mind that this was a prospective
court official speaking to a disfavoured defendant, and he might well
have been taking pride in speaking in this way. K. remained standing
quite close to him and said with a smile, "You're quite right, I am
impatient, but the easiest way to settle this impatience would be if you
left us. On the other hand, if you've come here to study - you are a
student, I hear - I'll be quite happy to leave the room to you and go
away with the woman. I'm sure you'll still have a lot of study to do
before you're made into a judge. It's true that I'm still not all that
familiar with your branch of jurisprudence but I take it it involves a
lot more than speaking roughly - and I see you have no shame in doing
that extremely well. " "He shouldn't have been allowed to move about so
freely," said the student, as if he wanted to give the woman an
explanation for K. 's insults, "that was a mistake. I've told the
examining judge so. He should at least have been detained in his room
between hearings. Sometimes it's impossible to understand what the
judge thinks he's doing. "
"You're wasting your breath," said K. , then he reached his hand out
towards the woman and said, "come with me. " "So that's it," said the
student, "oh no, you're not going to get her," and with a strength you
would not have expected from him, he glanced tenderly at her, lifted her
up on one arm and, his back bent under the weight, ran with her to the
door. In this way he showed, unmistakeably, that he was to some extent
afraid of K. , but he nonetheless dared to provoke him still further by
stroking and squeezing the woman's arm with his free hand. K. ran the
few steps up to him, but when he had reached him and was about to take
hold of him and, if necessary, throttle him, the woman said, "It's no
good, it's the examining judge who's sent for me, I daren't go with you,
this little bastard. . . " and here she ran her hand over the student's
face, "this little bastard won't let me. " "And you don't want to be set
free! " shouted K. , laying his hand on the student's shoulder, who then
snapped at it with his teeth. "No! " shouted the woman, pushing K. away
with both hands, "no, no don't do that, what d'you think you're doing! ?
That'd be the end of me. Let go of him, please just let go of him.
He's only carrying out the judge's orders, he's carrying me to him. "
"Let him take you then, and I want to see nothing more of you," said K. ,
enraged by his disappointment and giving the student a thump in the back
so that he briefly stumbled and then, glad that he had not fallen,
immediately jumped up all the higher with his burden. K. followed them
slowly. He realised that this was the first unambiguous setback he had
suffered from these people. It was of course nothing to worry about, he
accepted the setback only because he was looking for a fight. If he
stayed at home and carried on with his normal life he would be a
thousand times superior to these people and could get any of them out of
his way just with a kick. And he imagined the most laughable scene
possible as an example of this, if this contemptible student, this
inflated child, this knock-kneed redbeard, if he were kneeling at Elsa's
bed wringing his hands and begging for forgiveness. K. so enjoyed
imagining this scene that he decided to take the student along to Elsa
with him if ever he should get the opportunity.
K. was curious to see where the woman would be taken and he
hurried over to the door, the student was not likely to carry her
through the streets on his arm. It turned out that the journey was far
shorter. Directly opposite the flat there was a narrow flight of wooden
steps which probably led up to the attic, they turned as they went so
that it was not possible to see where they ended. The student carried
the woman up these steps, and after the exertions of running with her he
was soon groaning and moving very slowly. The woman waved down at K.
and by raising and lowering her shoulders she tried to show that she was
an innocent party in this abduction, although the gesture did not show a
lot of regret. K. watched her without expression like a stranger, he
wanted to show neither that he was disappointed nor that he would easily
get over his disappointment.
The two of them had disappeared, but K. remained standing in the
doorway. He had to accept that the woman had not only cheated him but
that she had also lied to him when she said she was being taken to the
examining judge. The examining judge certainly wouldn't be sitting and
waiting in the attic. The wooden stairs would explain nothing to him
however long he stared at them. Then K. noticed a small piece of paper
next to them, went across to it and read, in a childish and unpractised
hand, "Entrance to the Court Offices". Were the court offices here, in
the attic of this tenement, then? If that was how they were
accommodated it did not attract much respect, and it was some comfort
for the accused to realise how little money this court had at its
disposal if it had to locate its offices in a place where the tenants of
the building, who were themselves among the poorest of people, would
throw their unneeded junk. On the other hand, it was possible that the
officials had enough money but that they squandered it on themselves
rather than use it for the court's purposes. Going by K. 's experience
of them so far, that even seemed probable, except that if the court were
allowed to decay in that way it would not just humiliate the accused but
also give him more encouragement than if the court were simply in a
state of poverty.
