No More Learning

As a result of this self consciousness she said something that
she certainly did not intend and certainly was not appropriate. "Don't
take it so hard, Mr. K. ," she said, with tears in her voice and also, of
course, forgetting the handshake. "I didn't know I was taking it hard,"
said K. , feeling suddenly tired and seeing that if this woman did agree
with him it was of very little value.

Before going out the door he asked, "Is Miss Burstner home? "
"No," said Mrs. Grubach, smiling as she gave this simple piece of
information, saying something sensible at last. "She's at the theatre.
Did you want to see her? Should I give her a message? " "I, er, I just
wanted to have a few words with her. " "I'm afraid I don't know when
she's coming in; she usually gets back late when she's been to the
theatre. " "It really doesn't matter," said K. his head hanging as he
turned to the door to leave, "I just wanted to give her my apology for
taking over her room today. " "There's no need for that, Mr. K. , you're
too conscientious, the young lady doesn't know anything about it, she
hasn't been home since early this morning and everything's been tidied
up again, you can see for yourself. " And she opened the door to Miss
Burstner's room. "Thank you, I'll take your word for it," said K, but
went nonetheless over to the open door. The moon shone quietly into the
unlit room. As far as could be seen, everything was indeed in its
place, not even the blouse was hanging on the window handle. The
pillows on the bed looked remarkably plump as they lay half in the
moonlight. "Miss Burstner often comes home late," said K. , looking at
Mrs. Grubach as if that were her responsibility. "That's how young
people are! " said Mrs. Grubach to excuse herself. "Of course, of
course," said K. , "but it can be taken too far. " "Yes, it can be," said
Mrs. Grubach, "you're so right, Mr. K. Perhaps it is in this case. I
certainly wouldn't want to say anything nasty about Miss Burstner, she
is a good, sweet girl, friendly, tidy, punctual, works hard, I
appreciate all that very much, but one thing is true, she ought to have
more pride, be a bit less forthcoming. Twice this month already, in the
street over the way, I've seen her with a different gentleman. I really
don't like saying this, you're the only one I've said this to, Mr. K. , I
swear to God, but I'm going to have no choice but to have a few words
with Miss Burstner about it myself. And it's not the only thing about
her that I'm worried about. " "Mrs. Grubach, you are on quite the wrong
track," said K. , so angry that he was hardly able to hide it, "and you
have moreover misunderstood what I was saying about Miss Burstner, that
is not what I meant. In fact I warn you quite directly not to say
anything to her, you are quite mistaken, I know Miss Burstner very well
and there is no truth at all in what you say. And what's more, perhaps
I'm going to far, I don't want to get in your way, say to her whatever
you see fit. Good night. " "Mr. K. ," said Mrs. Grubach as if asking him
for something and hurrying to his door which he had already opened, "I
don't want to speak to Miss Burstner at all, not yet, of course I'll
continue to keep an eye on her but you're the only one I've told what I
know. And it is, after all something that everyone who lets rooms has
to do if she's to keep the house decent, that's all I'm trying to do. "
"Decent! " called out K. through the crack in the door, "if you want to
keep the house decent you'll first have to give me notice. " Then he
slammed the door shut, there was a gentle knocking to which he paid no
more attention.

He did not feel at all like going to bed, so he decided to stay
up, and this would also give him the chance to find out when Miss
Burstner would arrive home. Perhaps it would also still be possible,
even if a little inappropriate, to have a few words with her. As he lay
there by the window, pressing his hands to his tired eyes, he even
thought for a moment that he might punish Mrs. Grubach by persuading
Miss Burstner to give in her notice at the same time as he would. But
he immediately realised that that would be shockingly excessive, and
there would even be the suspicion that he was moving house because of
the incidents of that morning. Nothing would have been more nonsensical
and, above all, more pointless and contemptible.

When he had become tired of looking out onto the empty street he
slightly opened the door to the living room so that he could see anyone
who entered the flat from where he was and lay down on the couch. He
lay there, quietly smoking a cigar, until about eleven o'clock. He
wasn't able to hold out longer than that, and went a little way into the
hallway as if in that way he could make Miss Burstner arrive sooner. He
had no particular desire for her, he could not even remember what she
looked like, but now he wanted to speak to her and it irritated him that
her late arrival home meant this day would be full of unease and
disorder right to its very end. It was also her fault that he had not
had any dinner that evening and that he had been unable to visit Elsa as
he had intended. He could still make up for both of those things,
though, if he went to the wine bar where Elsa worked. He wanted to do
so even later, after the discussion with Miss Burstner.

It was already gone half past eleven when someone could be heard
in the stairway. K. , who had been lost in his thoughts in the hallway,
walking up and down loudly as if it were his own room, fled behind his
door. Miss Burstner had arrived. Shivering, she pulled a silk shawl
over her slender shoulders as she locked the door. The next moment she
would certainly go into her room, where K. ought not to intrude in the
middle of the night; that meant he would have to speak to her now, but,
unfortunately, he had not put the electric light on in his room so that
when he stepped out of the dark it would give the impression of being an
attack and would certainly, at the very least, have been quite alarming.
There was no time to lose, and in his helplessness he whispered through
the crack of the door, "Miss Burstner. " It sounded like he was pleading
with her, not calling to her. "Is there someone there? " asked Miss
Burstner, looking round with her eyes wide open. "It's me," said K. and
came out. "Oh, Mr. K. ! " said Miss Burstner with a smile. "Good
Evening," and offered him her hand. "I wanted to have a word with you,
if you would allow me? " "Now? " asked Miss Burstner, "does it have to be
now? It is a little odd, isn't it? " "I've been waiting for you since
nine o'clock. " "Well, I was at the theatre, I didn't know anything
about you waiting for me. " "The reason I need to speak to you only came
up today" "I see, well I don't see why not, I suppose, apart from being
so tired I could drop. Come into my room for a few minutes then. We
certainly can't talk out here, we'd wake everyone up and I think that
would be more unpleasant for us than for them. Wait here till I've put
the light on in my room, and then turn the light down out here. " K. did
as he was told, and then even waited until Miss Burstner came out of her
room and quietly invited him, once more, to come in. "Sit down," she
said, indicating the ottoman, while she herself remained standing by the
bedpost despite the tiredness she had spoken of; she did not even take
off her hat, which was small but decorated with an abundance of flowers.
"What is it you wanted, then? I'm really quite curious. " She gently
crossed her legs.
"I expect you'll say," K. began, "that the matter really isn't all that
urgent and we don't need to talk about it right now, but . . . " "I never
listen to introductions," said Miss Burstner. "That makes my job so
much easier," said K. "This morning, to some extent through my fault,
your room was made a little untidy, this happened because of people I
did not know and against my will but, as I said, because of my fault; I
wanted to apologise for it. " "My room? " asked Miss Burstner, and
instead of looking round the room scrutinised K. "It is true," said K. ,
and now, for the first time, they looked each other in the eyes,
"there's no point in saying exactly how this came about. " "But that's
the interesting thing about it," said Miss Burstner. "No," said K.
"Well then," said Miss Burstner, "I don't want to force my way into any
secrets, if you insist that it's of no interest I won't insist. I'm
quite happy to forgive you for it, as you ask, especially as I can't see
anything at all that's been left untidy. " With her hand laid flat on
her lower hip, she made a tour around the room. At the mat where the
photographs were she stopped. "Look at this! " she cried. "My
photographs really have been put in the wrong places. Oh, that's
horrible. Someone really has been in my room without permission. " K.
nodded, and quietly cursed Kaminer who worked at his bank and who was
always active doing things that had neither use nor purpose. "It is
odd," said Miss Burstner, "that I'm forced to forbid you to do something
that you ought to have forbidden yourself to do, namely to come into my
room when I'm not here. " "But I did explain to you," said K. , and went
over to join her by the photographs, "that it wasn't me who interfered
with your photographs; but as you don't believe me I'll have to admit
that the investigating committee brought along three bank employees with
them, one of them must have touched your photographs and as soon as I
get the chance I'll ask to have him dismissed from the bank. Yes, there
was an investigating committee here," added K. , as the young lady was
looking at him enquiringly. "Because of you? " she asked. "Yes,"
answered K. "No! " the lady cried with a laugh. "Yes, they were," said
K. , "you believe that I'm innocent then, do you? " "Well now, innocent
. . . " said the lady, "I don't want to start making any pronouncements
that might have serious consequences, I don't really know you after all,
it means they're dealing with a serious criminal if they send an
investigating committee straight out to get him. But you're not in
custody now - at least I take it you've not escaped from prison
considering that you seem quite calm - so you can't have committed any
crime of that sort. " "Yes," said K. , "but it might be that the
investigating committee could see that I'm innocent, or not so guilty as
had been supposed. " "Yes, that's certainly a possibility," said Miss
Burstner, who seemed very interested. "Listen," said K. , "you don't
have much experience in legal matters. " "No, that's true, I don't,"
said Miss Burstner, "and I've often regretted it, as I'd like to know
everything and I'm very interested in legal matters. There's something
peculiarly attractive about the law, isn't there? But I'll certainly be
perfecting my knowledge in this area, as next month I start work in a
legal office. " "That's very good," said K. , "that means you'll be able
to give me some help with my trial. " "That could well be," said Miss
Burstner, "why not? I like to make use of what I know. " "I mean it
quite seriously," said K. , "or at least, half seriously, as you do.
This affair is too petty to call in a lawyer, but I could make good use
of someone who could give me advice. " "Yes, but if I'm to give you
advice I'll have to know what it's all about," said Miss Burstner.
"That's exactly the problem," said K. , "I don't know that myself. " "So
you have been making fun of me, then," said Miss Burstner exceedingly
disappointed, "you really ought not to try something like that on at
this time of night. " And she stepped away from the photographs where
they had stood so long together. "Miss Burstner, no," said K. , "I'm not
making fun of you. Please believe me! I've already told you everything
I know. More than I know, in fact, as it actually wasn't even an
investigating committee, that's just what I called them because I don't
know what else to call them. There was no cross questioning at all, I
was merely arrested, but by a committee. " Miss Burstner sat on the
ottoman and laughed again. "What was it like then? " she asked. "It was
terrible" said K. , although his mind was no longer on the subject, he
had become totally absorbed by Miss Burstner's gaze who was supporting
her chin on one hand - the elbow rested on the cushion of the ottoman -
and slowly stroking her hip with the other. "That's too vague," said
Miss Burstner. "What's too vague? " asked K. Then he remembered himself
and asked, "Would you like me to show you what it was like? " He wanted
to move in some way but did not want to leave. "I'm already tired,"
said Miss Burstner. "You arrived back so late," said K. "Now you've
started telling me off. Well I suppose I deserve it as I shouldn't have
let you in here in the first place, and it turns out there wasn't even
any point. " "Oh, there was a point, you'll see now how important a
point it was," said K. "May I move this table away from your bedside
and put it here? " "What do you think you're doing? " said Miss Burstner.
"Of course you can't! " "In that case I can't show you," said K. , quite
upset, as if Miss Burstner had committed some incomprehensible offence
against him. "Alright then, if you need it to show what you mean, just
take the bedside table then," said Miss Burstner, and after a short
pause added in a weak voice, "I'm so tired I'm allowing more than I
ought to. " K. put the little table in the middle of the room and sat
down behind it. "You have to get a proper idea of where the people were
situated, it is very interesting. I'm the supervisor, sitting over
there on the chest are two policemen, standing next to the photographs
there are three young people. Hanging on the handle of the window is a
white blouse - I just mention that by the way. And now it begins. Ah
yes, I'm forgetting myself, the most important person of all, so I'm
standing here in front of the table.
The supervisor is sitting
extremely comfortably with his legs crossed and his arm hanging over the
backrest here like some layabout. And now it really does begin. The
supervisor calls out as if he had to wake me up, in fact he shouts at
me, I'm afraid, if I'm to make it clear to you, I'll have to shout as
well, and it's nothing more than my name that he shouts out. " Miss
Burstner, laughing as she listened to him, laid her forefinger on her
mouth so that K. would not shout, but it was too late. K. was too
engrossed in his role and slowly called out, "Josef K. ! ". It was not as
loud as he had threatened, but nonetheless, once he had suddenly called
it out, the cry seemed gradually to spread itself all round the room.

There was a series of loud, curt and regular knocks at the door of
the adjoining room. Miss Burstner went pale and laid her hand on her
heart. K. was especially startled, as for a moment he had been quite
unable to think of anything other than the events of that morning and
the girl for whom he was performing them. He had hardly pulled himself
together when he jumped over to Miss Burstner and took her hand. "Don't
be afraid," he whispered, "I'll put everything right. But who can it
be? It's only the living room next door, nobody sleeps in there. " "Yes
they do," whispered Miss Burstner into K. 's ear, "a nephew of Mrs.
Grubach's, an captain in the army, has been sleeping there since
yesterday. There's no other room free. I'd forgotten about it too.
Why did you have to shout like that? You've made me quite upset. "
"There is no reason for it," said K. , and, now as she sank back onto the
cushion, kissed her forehead. "Go away, go away," she said, hurriedly
sitting back up, "get out of here, go, what is it you want, he's
listening at the door he can hear everything. You're causing me so much
trouble! " "I won't go," said K. , "until you've calmed down a bit. Come
over into the other corner of the room, he won't be able to hear us
there. " She let him lead her there. "Don't forget," he said, "although
this might be unpleasant for you you're not in any real danger. You
know how much esteem Mrs. Grubach has for me, she's the one who will
make all the decisions in this, especially as the captain is her nephew,
but she believes everything I say without question. What's more, she
has borrowed a large sum of money from me and that makes her dependent
on me. I will confirm whatever you say to explain our being here
together, however inappropriate it might be, and I guarantee to make
sure that Mrs. Grubach will not only say she believes the explanation in
public but will believe it truly and sincerely. You will have no need
to consider me in any way. If you wish to let it be known that I have
attacked you then Mrs. Grubach will be informed of such and she will
believe it without even losing her trust in me, that's how much respect
she has for me. " Miss Burstner looked at the floor in front of her,
quiet and a little sunk in on herself. "Why would Mrs. Grubach not
believe that I've attacked you? " added K. He looked at her hair in front
of him, parted, bunched down, reddish and firmly held in place. He
thought she would look up at him, but without changing her manner she
said, "Forgive me, but it was the suddenness of the knocking that
startled me so much, not so much what the consequences of the captain
being here might be. It was all so quiet after you'd shouted, and then
there was the knocking, that's was made me so shocked, and I was sitting
right by the door, the knocking was right next to me. Thank you for
your suggestions, but I won't accept them. I can bear the
responsibility for anything that happens in my room myself, and I can do
so with anyone. I'm surprised you don't realise just how insulting your
suggestions are and what they imply about me, although I certainly
acknowledge your good intentions. But now, please go, leave me alone, I
need you to go now even more than I did earlier. The couple of minutes
you asked for have grown into half an hour, more than half an hour now. "
K. took hold of her hand, and then of her wrist, "You're not cross with
me, though? " he said. She pulled her hand away and answered, "No, no,
I'm never cross with anyone. " He grasped her wrist once more, she
tolerated it now and, in that way, lead him to the door. He had fully
intended to leave. But when he reached the door he came to a halt as if
he hadn't expected to find a door there, Miss Burstner made use of that
moment to get herself free, open the door, slip out into the hallway and
gently say to K. from there, "Now, come along, please. Look," she
pointed to the captain's door, from under which there was a light
shining, "he's put a light on and he's laughing at us. " "Alright, I'm
coming," said K. , moved forward, took hold of her, kissed her on the
mouth and then over her whole face like a thirsty animal lapping with
its tongue when it eventually finds water. He finally kissed her on her
neck and her throat and left his lips pressed there for a long time. He
did not look up until there was a noise from the captain's room. "I'll
go now," he said, he wanted to address Miss Burstner by her Christian
name, but did not know it. She gave him a tired nod, offered him her
hand to kiss as she turned away as if she did not know what she was
doing, and went back into her room with her head bowed. A short while
later, K. was lying in his bed. He very soon went to sleep, but before
he did he thought a little while about his behaviour, he was satisfied
with it but felt some surprise that he was not more satisfied; he was
seriously worried about Miss Burstner because of the captain.




Chapter Two
First Cross-examination

K. was informed by telephone that there would be a small hearing
concerning his case the following Sunday. He was made aware that these
cross examinations would follow one another regularly, perhaps not every
week but quite frequently. On the one hand it was in everyone's interest
to bring proceedings quickly to their conclusion, but on the other hand
every aspect of the examinations had to be carried out thoroughly
without lasting too long because of the associated stress. For these
reasons, it had been decided to hold a series of brief examinations
following on one after another. Sunday had been chosen as the day for
the hearings so that K. would not be disturbed in his professional work.
It was assumed that he would be in agreement with this, but if he wished
for another date then, as far as possible, he would be accommodated.
Cross-examinations could even be held in the night, for instance, but K.
would probably not be fresh enough at that time. Anyway, as long as K.
made no objection, the hearing would be left on Sundays. It was a
matter of course that he would have to appear without fail, there was
probably no need to point this out to him. He would be given the number
of the building where he was to present himself, which was in a street
in a suburb well away from the city centre which K. had never been to
before.

Once he had received this notice, K. hung up the receiver without
giving an answer; he had decided immediately to go there that Sunday, it
was certainly necessary, proceedings had begun and he had to face up to
it, and this first examination would probably also be the last. He was
still standing in thought by the telephone when he heard the voice of
the deputy director behind him - he wanted to use the telephone but K.
stood in his way. "Bad news? " asked the deputy director casually, not
in order to find anything out but just to get K. away from the device.
"No, no," said K. , he stepped to one side but did not go away entirely.
The deputy director picked up the receiver and, as he waited for his
connection, turned away from it and said to K. , "One question, Mr. K. :
Would you like to give me the pleasure of joining me on my sailing boat
on Sunday morning? There's quite a few people coming, you're bound to
know some of them. One of them is Hasterer, the state attorney. Would
you like to come along? Do come along! " K. tried to pay attention to
what the deputy director was saying. It was of no small importance for
him, as this invitation from the deputy director, with whom he had never
got on very well, meant that he was trying to improve his relations with
him. It showed how important K. had become in the bank and how its
second most important official seemed to value his friendship, or at
least his impartiality. He was only speaking at the side of the
telephone receiver while he waited for his connection, but in giving
this invitation the deputy director was humbling himself. But K. would
have to humiliate him a second time as a result, he said, "Thank you
very much, but I'm afraid I will have no time on Sunday, I have a
previous obligation. " "Pity," said the deputy director, and turned to
the telephone conversation that had just been connected. It was not a
short conversation, but K. , remained standing confused by the instrument
all the time it was going on. It was only when the deputy director hung
up that he was shocked into awareness and said, in order to partially
excuse his standing there for no reason, "I've just received a telephone
call, there's somewhere I need to go, but they forgot to tell me what
time. " "Ask them then," said the deputy director. "It's not that
important," said K. , although in that way his earlier excuse, already
weak enough, was made even weaker. As he went, the deputy director
continued to speak about other things. K. forced himself to answer, but
his thoughts were mainly about that Sunday, how it would be best to get
there for nine o'clock in the morning as that was the time that courts
always start work on weekdays.

The weather was dull on Sunday. K. was very tired, as he had
stayed out drinking until late in the night celebrating with some of the
regulars, and he had almost overslept. He dressed hurriedly, without
the time to think and assemble the various plans he had worked out
during the week. With no breakfast, he rushed to the suburb he had been
told about. Oddly enough, although he had little time to look around
him, he came across the three bank officials involved in his case,
Rabensteiner, Kullich and Kaminer. The first two were travelling in a
tram that went across K. 's route, but Kaminer sat on the terrace of a
cafe and leant curiously over the wall as K. came over. All of them
seemed to be looking at him, surprised at seeing their superior running;
it was a kind of pride that made K. want to go on foot, this was his
affair and the idea of any help from strangers, however slight, was
repulsive to him, he also wanted to avoid asking for anyone's help
because that would initiate them into the affair even if only slightly.
And after all, he had no wish at all to humiliate himself before the
committee by being too punctual. Anyway, now he was running so that he
would get there by nine o'clock if at all possible, even though he had
no appointment for this time.

He had thought that he would recognise the building from a
distance by some kind of sign, without knowing exactly what the sign
would look like, or from some particular kind of activity outside the
entrance. K. had been told that the building was in Juliusstrasse, but
when he stood at the street's entrance it consisted on each side of
almost nothing but monotonous, grey constructions, tall blocks of flats
occupied by poor people. Now, on a Sunday morning, most of the windows
were occupied, men in their shirtsleeves leant out smoking, or carefully
and gently held small children on the sills. Other windows were piled
up with bedding, above which the dishevelled head of a woman would
briefly appear. People called out to each other across the street, one
of the calls provoked a loud laugh about K. himself. It was a long
street, and spaced evenly along it were small shops below street level,
selling various kinds of foodstuffs, which you reached by going down a
few steps. Women went in and out of them or stood chatting on the
steps. A fruitmonger, taking his goods up to the windows, was just as
inattentive as K. and nearly knocked him down with his cart. Just then,
a gramophone, which in better parts of town would have been seen as worn
out, began to play some murderous tune.

K. went further into the street, slowly, as if he had plenty of
time now, or as if the examining magistrate were looking at him from one
of the windows and therefore knew that K. had found his way there. It
was shortly after nine. The building was quite far down the street, it
covered so much area it was almost extraordinary, and the gateway in
particular was tall and long. It was clearly intended for delivery
wagons belonging to the various warehouses all round the yard which were
now locked up and carried the names of companies some of which K. knew
from his work at the bank. In contrast with his usual habits, he
remained standing a while at the entrance to the yard taking in all
these external details. Near him, there was a bare-footed man sitting
on a crate and reading a newspaper. There were two lads swinging on a
hand cart. In front of a pump stood a weak, young girl in a bedjacket
who, as the water flowed into her can, looked at K. There was a piece
of rope stretched between two windows in a corner of the yard, with some
washing hanging on it to dry. A man stood below it calling out
instructions to direct the work being done.

K. went over to the stairway to get to the room where the hearing
was to take place, but then stood still again as besides these steps he
could see three other stairway entrances, and there also seemed to be a
small passageway at the end of the yard leading into a second yard. It
irritated him that he had not been given more precise directions to the
room, it meant they were either being especially neglectful with him or
especially indifferent, and he decided to make that clear to them very
loudly and very unambiguously. In the end he decided to climb up the
stairs, his thoughts playing on something that he remembered the
policeman, Willem, saying to him; that the court is attracted by the
guilt, from which it followed that the courtroom must be on the stairway
that K. selected by chance.

As he went up he disturbed a large group of children playing on
the stairs who looked at him as he stepped through their rows. "Next
time I come here," he said to himself, "I must either bring sweets with
me to make them like me or a stick to hit them with. " Just before he
reached the first landing he even had to wait a little while until a
ball had finished its movement, two small lads with sly faces like
grown-up scoundrels held him by his trouser-legs until it had; if he
were to shake them off he would have to hurt them, and he was afraid of
what noise they would make by shouting.

On the first floor, his search began for real. He still felt
unable to ask for the investigating committee, and so he invented a
joiner called Lanz - that name occurred to him because the captain, Mrs.
Grubach's nephew, was called Lanz - so that he could ask at every flat
whether Lanz the joiner lived there and thus obtain a chance to look
into the rooms. It turned out, though, that that was mostly possible
without further ado, as almost all the doors were left open and the
children ran in and out. Most of them were small, one-windowed rooms
where they also did the cooking. Many women held babies in one arm and
worked at the stove with the other. Half grown girls, who seemed to be
dressed in just their pinafores worked hardest running to and fro. In
every room, the beds were still in use by people who were ill, or still
asleep, or people stretched out on them in their clothes. K. knocked at
the flats where the doors were closed and asked whether Lanz the joiner
lived there. It was usually a woman who opened the door, heard the
enquiry and turned to somebody in the room who would raise himself from
the bed. "The gentleman's asking if a joiner called Lanz, lives here. "
"A joiner, called Lanz? " he would ask from the bed. " "That's right," K.
would say, although it was clear that the investigating committee was
not to be found there, and so his task was at an end. There were many
who thought it must be very important for K. to find Lanz the joiner and
thought long about it, naming a joiner who was not called Lanz or giving
a name that had some vague similarity with Lanz, or they asked
neighbours or accompanied K. to a door a long way away where they
thought someone of that sort might live in the back part of the building
or where someone would be who could advise K. better than they could
themselves. K. eventually had to give up asking if he did not want to
be led all round from floor to floor in this way. He regretted his
initial plan, which had at first seemed so practical to him. As he
reached the fifth floor, he decided to give up the search, took his
leave of a friendly, young worker who wanted to lead him on still
further and went down the stairs. But then the thought of how much time
he was wasting made him cross, he went back again and knocked at the
first door on the fifth floor. The first thing he saw in the small room
was a large clock on the wall which already showed ten o'clock. "Is
there a joiner called Lanz who lives here? " he asked. "Pardon? " said a
young woman with black, shining eyes who was, at that moment, washing
children's underclothes in a bucket. She pointed her wet hand towards
the open door of the adjoining room.

K. thought he had stepped into a meeting.