No More Learning

Maybe everything the lawyer said was quite right, even though he
obviously wanted to make himself as conspicuous as possible and probably
had never even taken on a case as important as he said K. 's was. But it
was still suspicious how he continually mentioned his personal contacts
with the civil servants. Were they to be exploited solely for K. 's
benefit? The lawyer never forgot to mention that they were dealing only
with junior officials, which meant officials who were dependent on
others, and the direction taken in each trial could be important for
their own furtherment. Could it be that they were making use of the
lawyer to turn trials in a certain direction, which would, of course,
always be at the cost of the defendant? It certainly did not mean that
they would do that in every trial, that was not likely at all, and there
were probably also trials where they gave the lawyer advantages and all
the room he needed to turn it in the direction he wanted, as it would
also be to their advantage to keep his reputation intact. If that
really was their relationship, how would they direct K. 's trial which,
as the lawyer had explained, was especially difficult and therefore
important enough to attract great attention from the very first time it
came to court? There could not be much doubt about what they would do.
The first signs of it could already be seen in the fact that the first
documents still had not been submitted even though the trial had already
lasted several months, and that, according to the lawyer, everything was
still in its initial stages, which was very effective, of course, in
making the defendant passive and keeping him helpless. Then he could be
suddenly surprised with the verdict, or at least with a notification
that the hearing had not decided in his favour and the matter would be
passed on to a higher office.

It was essential that K. take a hand in it himself. On winter's
mornings such as this, when he was very tired and everything dragged
itself lethargically through his head, this belief of his seemed
irrefutable. He no longer felt the contempt for the trial that he had
had earlier. If he had been alone in the world it would have been easy
for him to ignore it, although it was also certain that, in that case,
the trial would never have arisen in the first place. But now, his
uncle had already dragged him to see the lawyer, he had to take account
of his family; his job was no longer totally separate from the progress
of the trial, he himself had carelessly - with a certain, inexplicable
complacency - mentioned it to acquaintances and others had learned about
it in ways he did not know, his relationship with Miss Burstner seemed
to be in trouble because of it. In short, he no longer had any choice
whether he would accept the trial or turn it down, he was in the middle
of it and had to defend himself. If he was tired, then that was bad.

But there was no reason to worry too much before he needed to. He
had been capable of working himself up to his high position in the bank
in a relatively short time and to retain it with respect from everyone,
now he simply had to apply some of the talents that had made that
possible for him to the trial, and there was no doubt that it had to
turn out well. The most important thing, if something was to be
achieved, was to reject in advance any idea that he might be in any way
guilty. There was no guilt. The trial was nothing but a big piece of
business, just like he had already concluded to the benefit of the bank
many times, a piece of business that concealed many lurking dangers
waiting in ambush for him, as they usually did, and these dangers would
need to be defended against. If that was to be achieved then he must
not entertain any idea of guilt, whatever he did, he would need to look
after his own interests as closely as he could. Seen in this way, there
was no choice but to take his representation away from the lawyer very
soon, at best that very evening. The lawyer had told him, as he talked
to him, that that was something unheard of and would probably do him a
great deal of harm, but K. could not tolerate any impediment to his
efforts where his trial was concerned, and these impediments were
probably caused by the lawyer himself. But once he had shaken off the
lawyer the documents would need to be submitted straight away and, if
possible, he would need to see to it that they were being dealt with
every day. It would of course not be enough, if that was to be done,
for K. to sit in the corridor with his hat under the bench like the
others. Day after day, he himself, or one of the women or somebody else
on his behalf, would have to run after the officials and force them to
sit at their desks and study K. 's documents instead of looking out on
the corridor through the grating. There could be no let-up in these
efforts, everything would need to be organised and supervised, it was
about time that the court came up against a defendant who knew how to
defend and make use of his rights.

But when K. had the confidence to try and do all this the
difficulty of composing the documents was too much for him. Earlier,
just a week or so before, he could only have felt shame at the thought
of being made to write out such documents himself; it had never entered
his head that the task could also be difficult. He remembered one
morning when, already piled up with work, he suddenly shoved everything
to one side and took a pad of paper on which he sketched out some of his
thoughts on how documents of this sort should proceed. Perhaps he would
offer them to that slow-witted lawyer, but just then the door of the
manager's office opened and the deputy-director entered the room with a
loud laugh. K. was very embarrassed, although the deputy-director, of
course, was not laughing at K. 's documents, which he knew nothing about,
but at a joke he had just heard about the stock-exchange, a joke which
needed an illustration if it was to be understood, and now the deputy-
director leant over K. 's desk, took his pencil from his hand, and drew
the illustration on the writing pad that K. had intended for his ideas
about his case.

K. now had no more thoughts of shame, the documents had to be
prepared and submitted. If, as was very likely, he could find no time
to do it in the office he would have to do it at home at night. If the
nights weren't enough he would have to take a holiday. Above all, he could
not stop half way, that was nonsense not only in business but always and
everywhere. Needless to say, the documents would mean an almost endless
amount of work. It was easy to come to the belief, not only for those
of an anxious disposition, that it was impossible ever to finish it.
This was not because of laziness or deceit, which were the only things
that might have hindered the lawyer in preparing it, but because he did
not know what the charge was or even what consequences it might bring,
so that he had to remember every tiny action and event from the whole of
his life, looking at them from all sides and checking and reconsidering
them. It was also a very disheartening job. It would have been more
suitable as a way of passing the long days after he had retired and
become senile. But now, just when K. needed to apply all his thoughts
to his work, when he was still rising and already posed a threat to the
deputy-director, when every hour passed so quickly and he wanted to
enjoy the brief evenings and nights as a young man, this was the time he
had to start working out these documents. Once more, he began to feel
resentment. Almost involuntarily, only to put an end to it, his finger
felt for the button of the electric bell in the ante-room. As he
pressed it he glanced up to the clock. It was eleven o'clock, two
hours, he had spent a great deal of his costly time just dreaming and
his wits were, of course, even more dulled than they had been before.
But the time had, nonetheless, not been wasted, he had come to some
decisions that could be of value. As well as various pieces of mail,
the servitors brought two visiting cards from gentlemen who had already
been waiting for K. for some time. They were actually very important
clients of the bank who should not really have been kept waiting under
any circumstances. Why had they come at such an awkward time, and why,
the gentlemen on the other side of the closed door seemed to be asking,
was the industrious K. using up the best business time for his private
affairs? Tired from what had gone before, and tired in anticipation of
what was to follow, K. stood up to receive the first of them.

He was a short, jolly man, a manufacturer who K. knew well. He
apologised for disturbing K. at some important work, and K. , for his
part, apologised for having kept the manufacturer waiting for so long.
But even this apology was spoken in such a mechanical way and with such
false intonation that the manufacturer would certainly have noticed if
he had not been fully preoccupied with his business affairs. Instead,
he hurriedly pulled calculations and tables out from all his pockets,
spread them out in front of K. , explained several items, corrected a
little mistake in the arithmetic that he noticed as he quickly glanced
over it all, and reminded K. of a similar piece of business he'd
concluded with him about a year before, mentioning in passing that this
time there was another bank spending great effort to get his business,
and finally stopped speaking in order to learn K. 's opinion on the
matter. And K. had indeed, at first, been closely following what the
manufacturer was saying, he too was aware of how important the deal was,
but unfortunately it did not last, he soon stopped listening, nodded at
each of the manufacturer's louder exclamations for a short while, but
eventually he stopped doing even that and did no more than stare at the
bald head bent over the papers, asking himself when the manufacturer
would finally realise that everything he was saying was useless. When
he did stop talking, K. really thought at first that this was so that he
would have the chance to confess that he was incapable of listening.
Instead, seeing the anticipation on the manufacturer's face, obviously
ready to counter any objections made, he was sorry to realise that the
business discussion had to be continued. So he bent his head as if he'd
been given an order and began slowly to move his pencil over the papers,
now and then he would stop and stare at one of the figures. The
manufacturer thought there must be some objection, perhaps his figures
weren't really sound, perhaps they weren't the decisive issue, whatever
he thought, the manufacturer covered the papers with his hand and began
once again, moving very close to K. , to explain what the deal was all
about. "It is difficult," said K. , pursing his lips. The only thing
that could offer him any guidance were the papers, and the manufacturer
had covered them from his view, so he just sank back against the arm of
the chair. Even when the door of the manager's office opened and
revealed not very clearly, as if through a veil, the deputy director, he
did no more than look up weakly. K. thought no more about the matter,
he merely watched the immediate effect of the deputy director's
appearance and, for him, the effect was very pleasing; the manufacturer
immediately jumped up from his seat and hurried over to meet the deputy
director, although K. would have liked to make him ten times livelier as
he feared the deputy director might disappear again. He need not have
worried, the two gentlemen met each other, shook each other's hand and
went together over to K. 's desk. The manufacturer said he was sorry to
find the chief clerk so little inclined to do business, pointing to K.
who, under the view of the deputy director, had bent back down over the
papers. As the two men leant over the desk and the manufacturer made
some effort to gain and keep the deputy director's attention, K. felt as
if they were much bigger than they really were and that their
negotiations were about him. Carefully and slowly turning his eyes
upwards, he tried to learn what was taking place above him, took one of
the papers from his desk without looking to see what it was, lay it on
the flat of his hand and raised it slowly up as he rose up to the level
of the two men himself. He had no particular plan in mind as he did
this, but merely felt this was how he would act if only he had finished
preparing that great document that was to remove his burden entirely.
The deputy director had been paying all his attention to the
conversation and did no more than glance at the paper, he did not read
what was written on it at all as what was important for the chief clerk
was not important for him, he took it from K. 's hand saying, "Thank you,
I'm already familiar with everything", and lay it calmly back on the
desk. K. gave him a bitter, sideways look. But the deputy director did
not notice this at all, or if he did notice it it only raised his
spirits, he frequently laughed out loud, one time he clearly embarrassed
the manufacturer when he raised an objection in a witty way but drew him
immediately back out of his embarrassment by commenting adversely on
himself, and finally invited him into his office where they could bring
the matter to its conclusion. "It's a very important matter," said the
manufacturer. "I understand that completely. And I'm sure the chief
clerk . . . " - even as he said this he was actually speaking only to the
manufacturer - "will be very glad to have us take it off his hands.
This is something that needs calm consideration. But he seems to be
over-burdened today, there are even some people in the room outside
who've been waiting there for hours for him. " K. still had enough
control of himself to turn away from the deputy director and direct his
friendly, albeit stiff, smile only at the manufacturer, he made no other
retaliation, bent down slightly and supported himself with both hands on
his desk like a clerk, and watched as the two gentlemen, still talking,
took the papers from his desk and disappeared into the manager's office.
In the doorway, the manufacturer turned and said he wouldn't make his
farewell with K. just yet, he would of course let the chief clerk know
about the success of his discussions but he also had a little something
to tell him about.

At last, K. was by himself. It did not enter his head to show
anyone else into his office and only became vaguely aware of how nice it
was that the people outside thought he was still negotiating with the
manufacturer and, for this reason, 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 the
square outside. The snow was still falling, the weather still had not
brightened up at all.

He remained a long time sitting in this way, not knowing what it
actually was that made him so anxious, only occasionally did he glance,
slightly startled, over his shoulder at the door to the outer room
where, mistakenly, he thought he'd heard some noise. No-one came, and
that made him feel calmer, he went over to the wash stand, rinsed his
face with cold water and, his head somewhat clearer, went back to his
place by the window. The decision to take his defence into his own
hands now seemed more of a burden than he had originally assumed. All
the while he had left his defence up to the lawyer his trial had had
little basic affect on him, he had observed it from afar as something
that was scarcely able to reach him directly, when it suited him he
looked to see how things stood but he was also able to draw his head
back again whenever he wanted. Now, in contrast, if he was to conduct
his defence himself, he would have to devote himself entirely to the
court - for the time being, at least - success would mean, later on, his
complete and conclusive liberation, but if he was to achieve this he
would have to place himself, to start with, in far greater danger than
he had been in so far. If he ever felt tempted to doubt this, then his
experience with the deputy director and the manufacturer that day would
be quite enough to convince him of it. How could he have sat there
totally convinced of the need to do his own defence? How would it be
later? What would his life be like in the days ahead? Would he find
the way through it all to a happy conclusion? Did a carefully worked
out defence - and any other sort would have made no sense - did a
carefully worked out defence not also mean he would need to shut himself
off from everything else as much as he could? Would he survive that?
And how was he to succeed in conducting all this at the bank? It
involved much more than just submitting some documents that he could
probably prepare in a few days' leave, although it would have been great
temerity to ask for time off from the bank just at that time, it was a
whole trial and there was no way of seeing how long it might last. This
was an enormous difficulty that had suddenly been thrown into K. 's life!

And was he supposed to be doing the bank's work at a time like
this? He looked down at his desk. Was he supposed to let people in to
see him and go into negotiations with them at a time like this? While
his trial trundled on, while the court officials upstairs in the attic
room sat looking at the papers for this trial, should he be worrying
about the business of the bank? Did this not seem like a kind of
torture, acknowledged by the court, connected with the trial and which
followed him around? And is it likely that anyone in the bank, when
judging his work, would take any account of his peculiar situation? No-
one and never. There were those who knew about his trial, although it
was not quite clear who knew about it or how much. But he hoped rumours
had not reached as far as the deputy director, otherwise he would
obviously soon find a way of making use of it to harm K. , he would show
neither comradeship nor humaneness. And what about the director? It
was true that he was well disposed towards K. , and as soon as he heard
about the trial he would probably try to do everything he could to make
it easier for him, but he would certainly not devote himself to it. K.
at one time had provided the counter-balance to what the deputy director
said but the director was now coming more and more under his influence,
and the deputy director would also exploit the weakened condition of the
director to strengthen his own power. So what could K. hope for? Maybe
considerations of this sort weakened his power of resistance, but it was
still necessary not to deceive oneself and to see everything as clearly
as it could be seen at that moment.

For no particular reason, just to avoiding returning to his desk
for a while, he opened the window. It was difficult to open and he had
to turn the handle with both his hands. Then, through the whole height
and breadth of the window, the mixture of fog and smoke was drawn into
the room, filling it with a slight smell of burning. A few flakes of
snow were blown in with it. "It's a horrible autumn," said the
manufacturer, who had come into the room unnoticed after seeing the
deputy director and now stood behind K. K. nodded and looked uneasily
at the manufacturer's briefcase, from which he would now probably take
the papers and inform K. of the result of his negotiations with the
deputy director. However, the manufacturer saw where K. was looking,
knocked on his briefcase and without opening it said, "You'll be wanting
to hear how things turned out. I've already got the contract in my
pocket, almost. He's a charming man, your deputy director - he's got
his dangers, though. " He laughed as he shook K. 's hand and wanted to
make him laugh with him. But to K. , it once more seemed suspicious that
the manufacturer did not want to show him the papers and saw nothing
about his comments to laugh at. "Chief clerk," said the manufacturer,
"I expect the weather's been affecting your mood, has it? You're looking
so worried today. " "Yes," said K. , raising his hand and holding the
temple of his head, "headaches, worries in the family. " "Quite right,"
said the manufacturer, who was always in a hurry and could never listen
to anyone for very long, "everyone has his cross to 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 to mention to you. I'm very sorry if it's
something that'll be a burden to you today of all days but I've been to
see you twice already, lately, and each time I forgot all about it. If
I delay it any longer it might well lose its point altogether. That
would be a pity, as I think what I've got to say does have some value. "
Before K. had had the time to answer, the manufacturer came up close to
him, tapped his knuckle lightly on his chest and said quietly, "You've
got a trial going on, haven't you? " K. stepped back and immediately
exclaimed, "That's what the deputy director's been telling you! " "No,
no," said the manufacturer, "how would the deputy director know about
it? " "And what about you? " asked K. , already more in control of
himself. "I hear things about the court here and there," said the
manufacturer, "and that even applies to what it is that I wanted to tell
you about. " "There are so many people who have connections with the
court! " said K. with lowered head, and he led the manufacturer over to
his desk. They sat down where they had been before, and the
manufacturer said, "I'm afraid it's not very much that I've got to tell
you about. Only, in matters like this, it's best not to overlook the
tiniest details. Besides, I really want to help you in some way,
however modest my help might be.
We've been good business partners up
till now, haven't we? Well then. " K. wanted to apologise for his
behaviour in the conversation earlier that day, but the manufacturer
would tolerate no interruption, shoved his briefcase up high in his
armpit to show that he was in a hurry, and carried on. "I know about
your case through a certain Titorelli. He's a painter, Titorelli's just
his artistic name, I don't even know what his real name is. He's been
coming to me in my office for years from time to time, and brings little
pictures with him which I buy more or less just for the sake of charity
as he's hardly more than a beggar. And they're nice pictures, too,
moorland landscapes and that sort of thing. We'd both got used to doing
business in this way and it always went smoothly. Only, one time these
visits became a bit too frequent, I began to tell him off for it, we
started talking and I became interested how it was that he could earn a
living just by painting, and then I learned to my amazement that his
main source of income was painting portraits. 'I work for the court,'
he said, 'what court? ' said I. And that's when he told me about the
court. I'm sure you can imagine how amazed I was at being told all
this. Ever since then I learn something new about the court every time
he comes to visit, and so little by little I get to understand something
of how it works. Anyway, Titorelli talks a lot and I often have to push
him away, not only because he's bound to be lying but also, most of all,
because a businessman like me who's already close to breaking point
under the weight of his own business worries can't pay too much
attention to other people's. But all that's just by the by. Perhaps -
this is what I've been thinking - perhaps Titorelli might be able to
help you in some small way, he knows lots of judges and even if he can't
have much influence himself he can give you some advice about how to get
some influential people on your side. And even if this advice doesn't
turn out to make all the difference I still think it'll be very
important once you've got it. You're nearly a lawyer yourself. That's
what I always say, Mr. K. the chief clerk is nearly a lawyer. Oh I'm
sure this trial of yours will turn out all right. So do you want to go
and see Titorelli, then? If I ask him to he'll certainly do everything
he possibly can. I really do think you ought to go. It needn't be
today, of course, just some time, when you get the chance. And anyway -
I want to tell you this too - you don't actually have to go and see
Titorelli, this advice from me doesn't place you under any obligation at
all. No, if you think you can get by without Titorelli it'll certainly
be better to leave him completely out of it. Maybe you've already got a
clear idea of what you're doing and Titorelli could upset your plans.
No, if that's the case then of course you shouldn't go there under any
circumstances! And it certainly won't be easy to take advice from a lad
like that. 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 his pocket. Even
at best, the advantage he might derive from this recommendation was
incomparably smaller than the damage that lay in the fact of the
manufacturer knowing about his trial, and that the painter was spreading
the news about. It was all he could manage to give the manufacturer, who
was already on his way to the door, a few words of thanks. "I'll go
there," 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 to come to me in my office some time. " "I was sure you'd find the
best solution," said the manufacturer. "Although I had thought you'd
prefer to avoid inviting people like this Titorelli to the bank and
talking about the trial here. And it's not always a good idea to send
letters to people like Titorelli, you don't know what might happen to
them. But you're bound to have thought everything through and you know
what you can and can't do. " K. nodded and accompanied the manufacturer
on through the ante-room. But despite seeming calm on the outside he
was actually very shocked; he had told the manufacturer he would write
to Titorelli only to show him in some way that he valued his
recommendations and would consider the opportunity to speak with
Titorelli without delay, but if he had thought Titorelli could offer any
worthwhile assistance he would not have delayed. But it was only the
manufacturer's comment that made K. realise what dangers that could lead
to. Was he really able to rely on his own understanding so little? If
it was possible that he might invite a questionable character into the
bank with a clear letter, and ask advice from him about his trial,
separated from the deputy director by no more than a door, was it not
possible or even very likely that there were also other dangers he had
failed to see or that he was even running towards? There was not always
someone beside him to warn him. And just now, just when he would have
to act with all the strength he could muster, now a number of doubts of
a sort he had never before known had presented themselves and affected
his own vigilance! The difficulties he had been feeling in carrying out
his office work; were they now going to affect the trial too? Now, at
least, he found himself quite unable to understand how he could have
intended to write to Titorelli and invite him into the bank.

He shook his head at the thought of it once more as the servitor
came up beside him and drew his attention to the three gentlemen who
were waiting on a bench in the ante-room. They had already been waiting
to see K. for a long time. Now that the servitor was speaking with K.
they had stood up and each of them wanted to make use of the opportunity
to see K. before the others. It had been negligent of the bank to let
them waste their time here in the waiting room, but none of them wanted
to draw attention to this. "Mr. K. , . . . " one of them was saying, but K.
had told the servitor to fetch his winter coat and said to the three of
them, as the servitor helped him to put it on, "Please forgive me,
gentlemen, I'm afraid I have no time to see you at present. Please do
forgive me but I have some urgent business to settle and have to leave
straight away. You've already seen yourselves how long I've been
delayed. Would you be so kind as to come back tomorrow or some time?
Or perhaps we could settle your affairs by telephone? Or perhaps you
would like to tell me now, briefly, what it's about and I can then give
you a full answer in writing. Whatever, the best thing will be for you
to come here again. " The gentlemen now saw that their wait had been
totally pointless, and these suggestions of K. 's left them so astounded
that they looked at each other without a word. "That's agreed then, is
it? " asked K. , who had turned toward the servitor bringing him his hat.
Through the open door of K. 's office they could see that the snowfall
outside had become much heavier. So K. turned the collar of his coat up
and buttoned it up high under his chin. Just then the deputy director
came out of the adjoining room, smiled as he saw K. negotiating with the
gentlemen in his winter coat, and asked, "Are you about to go out? "
"Yes," said K. , standing more upright, "I have to go out on some
business. " But the deputy director had already turned towards the
gentlemen. "And what about these gentlemen? " he asked. "I think
they've already been waiting quite a long time. " "We've already come to
an understanding," said K. But now the gentlemen could be held back no
longer, they surrounded K. and explained that they would not have been
waiting for hours if it had not been about something important that had
to be discussed now, at length and in private. The deputy director
listened to them for a short while, he also looked at K. as he held his
hat in his hand cleaning the dust off it here and there, and then he
said, "Gentlemen, there is a very simple way to solve this. If you
would prefer it, I'll be very glad to take over these negotiations
instead of the chief clerk. Your business does, of course, need to be
discussed without delay. We are businessmen like yourselves and know
the value of a businessman's time. Would you like to come this way? "
And he opened the door leading to the ante-room of his own office.

The deputy director seemed very good at appropriating everything
that K. was now forced to give up! But was K. not giving up more than
he absolutely had to? By running off to some unknown painter, with, as
he had to admit, very little hope of any vague benefit, his renown was
suffering damage that could not me repaired. It would probably be much
better to take off his winter coat again and, at the very least, try to
win back the two gentlemen who were certainly still waiting in the next
room. If K. had not then glimpsed the deputy director in his office,
looking for something from his bookshelves as if they were his own, he
would probably even have made the attempt. As K. , somewhat agitated,
approached the door the deputy director called out, "Oh, you've still
not left! " He turned his face toward him - its many deep folds seemed
to show strength rather than age - and immediately began once more to
search. "I'm looking for a copy of a contract," he said, "which this
gentleman insists you must have. Could you help me look for it, do you
think? " K. made a step forward, but the deputy director said, "thank
you, I've already found it," and with a big package of papers, which
certainly must have included many more documents than just the copy of
the contract, he turned and went back into his own office.

"I can't deal with him right now," K. said to himself, "but once
my personal difficulties have been settled, then he'll certainly be the
first to get the effect of it, and he certainly won't like it. "
Slightly calmed by these thoughts, K. gave the servitor, who had already
long been holding the door to the corridor open for him, the task of
telling the director, when he was able, that K. was going out of the
bank on a business matter. As he left the bank he felt almost happy at
the thought of being able to devote more of himself to his own business
for a while.

He went straight to the painter, who lived in an outlying part of
town which was very near to the court offices, although this area was
even poorer, the houses were darker, the streets were full of dirt that
slowly blew about over the half-melted snow. In the great gateway to
the building where the painter lived only one of the two doors was open,
a hole had been broken open in the wall by the other door, and as K.
approached it a repulsive, yellow, steaming liquid shot out causing some
rats to scurry away into the nearby canal. Down by the staircase there
was a small child lying on its belly crying, but it could hardly be
heard because of the noise from a metal-workshop on the other side of
the entrance hall, drowning out any other sound. The door to the
workshop was open, three workers stood in a circle around some piece of
work that they were beating with hammers. A large tin plate hung on the
wall, casting a pale light that pushed its way in between two of the
workers, lighting up their faces and their work-aprons. K. did no more
than glance at any of these things, he wanted to get things over with
here as soon as possible, to exchange just a few words to find out how
things stood with the painter and go straight back to the bank. Even if
he had just some tiny success here it would still have a good effect on
his work at the bank for that day. On the third floor he had to slow
down his pace, he was quite out of breath - the steps, just like the
height of each floor, were much higher than they needed to be and he'd
been told that the painter lived right up in the attic. The air was
also quite oppressive, there was no proper stairwell and the narrow
steps were closed in by walls on both sides with no more than a small,
high window here and there. Just as K. paused for a while some young
girls ran out of one of the flats and rushed higher up the stairs,
laughing. K. followed them slowly, caught up with one of the girls who
had stumbled and been left behind by the others, and asked her as they
went up side by side, "Is there a painter, Titorelli, who lives here? "
The girl, hardly thirteen years old and somewhat hunchbacked, jabbed him
with her elbow and looked at him sideways. Her youth and her bodily
defects had done nothing to stop her being already quite depraved. She
did not smile once, but looked at K. earnestly, with sharp, acquisitive
eyes. K. pretended not to notice her behaviour and asked, "Do you know
Titorelli, the painter? " She nodded and asked in reply, "What d'you
want to see him for? " K. thought it would be to his advantage quickly
to find out something more about Titorelli. "I want to have him paint
my portrait," he said. "Paint your portrait? " she asked, opening her
mouth too wide and lightly hitting K. with her hand as if he had said
something extraordinarily surprising or clumsy, with both hands she
lifted her skirt, which was already very short, and, as fast as she
could, she ran off after the other girls whose indistinct shouts lost
themselves in the heights. At the next turn of the stairs, however, K.
encountered all the girls once more. The hunchbacked girl had clearly
told them about K. 's intentions and they were waiting for him. They
stood on both sides of the stairs, pressing themselves against the wall
so that K. could get through between them, and smoothed their aprons
down with their hands. All their faces, even in this guard of honour,
showed a mixture of childishness and depravity. Up at the head of the
line of girls, who now, laughing, began to close in around K. , was the
hunchback who had taken on the role of leader. It was thanks to her
that K. found the right direction without delay - he would have
continued up the stairs straight in front of him, but she showed him
that to reach Titorelli he would need to turn off to one side.
The steps that led up to the painter were especially narrow, very long
without any turning, the whole length could be seen in one glance and,
at the top, at Titorelli's closed door, it came to its end. This door
was much better illuminated than the rest of the stairway by the light
from a small skylight set obliquely above it, it had been put together
from unpainted planks of wood and the name 'Titorelli' was painted on it
in broad, red brushstrokes. K. was no more than half way up the steps,
accompanied by his retinue of girls, when, clearly the result of the
noise of all those footsteps, the door opened slightly and in the crack
a man who seemed to be dressed in just his nightshirt appeared. "Oh! "
he cried, when he saw the approaching crowd, and vanished. The
hunchbacked girl clapped her hands in glee and the other girls crowded
in behind K. to push him faster forward.

They still had not arrived at the top, however, when the painter
up above them suddenly pulled the door wide open and, with a deep bow,
invited K. to enter. The girls, on the other hand, he tried to keep
away, he did not want to let any of them in however much they begged him
and however much they tried to get in - if they could not get in with
his permission they would try to force their way in against his will.
The only one to succeed was the hunchback when she slipped through under
his outstretched arm, but the painter chased after her, grabbed her by
the skirt, span her once round and set her down again by the door with
the other girls who, unlike the first, had not dared to cross the
doorstep while the painter had left his post. K. did not know what he
was to make of all this, as they all seemed to be having fun. One
behind the other, the girls by the door stretched their necks up high
and called out various words to the painter which were meant in jest but
which K. did not understand, and even the painter laughed as the
hunchback whirled round in his hand. Then he shut the door, bowed once
more to K. , offered him his hand and introduced himself, saying,
"Titorelli, painter". K. pointed to the door, behind which the girls
were whispering, and said, "You seem to be very popular in this
building. " "Ach, those brats! " said the painter, trying in vain to
fasten his nightshirt at the neck. He was also bare-footed and, apart
from that, was wearing nothing more than a loose pair of yellowish linen
trousers held up with a belt whose free end whipped to and fro. "Those
kids are a real burden for me," he continued. The top button of his
nightshirt came off and he gave up trying to fasten it, fetched a chair
for K. and made him sit down on it. "I painted one of them once - she's
not here today - and ever since then they've been following me about.
If I'm here they only come in when I allow it, but as soon as I've gone
out there's always at least one of them in here. They had a key made to
my door and lend it round to each other. It's hard to imagine what a
pain that is. Suppose I come back home with a lady I'm going to paint,
I open the door with my own key and find the hunchback there or
something, by the table painting her lips red with my paintbrush, and
meanwhile her little sisters will be keeping guard for her, moving about
and causing chaos in every corner of the room. Or else, like happened
yesterday, I might come back home late in the evening - please forgive
my appearance and the room being in a mess, it is to do with them - so,
I might come home late in the evening and want to go to bed, then I feel
something pinching my leg, look under the bed and pull another of them
out from under it. I don't know why it is they bother me like this, I
expect you've just seen that I do nothing to encourage them to come near
me. And they make it hard for me to do my work too, of course. If I
didn't get this studio for nothing I'd have moved out a long time ago. "
Just then, a little voice, tender and anxious, called out from under the
door, "Titorelli, can we come in now? " "No," answered the painter.
"Not even just me, by myself? " the voice asked again.