No More Learning

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. K. also now understood that the court was ashamed to
summon those it accused to the attic of this building for the initial
hearing, and why it preferred to impose upon them in their own homes.
What a position it was that K. found himself in, compared with the judge
sitting up in the attic! K. , at the bank, had a big office with an
ante-room, and had an enormous window through which he could look down
at the activity in the square. It was true, though, that he had no
secondary income from bribes and fraud, and he couldn't tell a servant
to bring him a woman up to the office on his arm. K. , however, was
quite willing to do without such things, in this life at least. K. was
still looking at the notice when a man came up the stairs, looked
through the open door into the living room where it was also possible to
see the courtroom, and finally asked K. whether he had just seen a woman
there. "You're the court usher, aren't you? " asked K. "That's right,"
said the man, "oh, yes, you're defendant K. , I recognise you now as
well. Nice to see you here. " And he offered K. his hand, which was far
from what K. had expected. And when K. said nothing, he added, "There's
no court session planned for today, though. " "I know that," said K. as
he looked at the usher's civilian coat which, beside its ordinary
buttons, displayed two gilded ones as the only sign of his office and
seemed to have been taken from an old army officer's coat. "I was
speaking with your wife a little while ago. She is no longer here. The
student has carried her off to the examining judge. " "Listen to this,"
said the usher, "they're always carrying her away from me. It's Sunday
today, and it's not part of my job to do any work today, but they send
me off with some message which isn't even necessary just to get me away
from here. What they do is they send me off not too far away so that I
can still hope to get back on time if I really hurry. So off I go
running as fast as I can, shout the message through the crack in the
door of the office I've been sent to, so out of breath they'll hardly be
able to understand it, run back here again, but the student's been even
faster than I have - well he's got less far to go, he's only got to run
down the steps. If I wasn't so dependent on them I'd have squashed the
student against the wall here a long time ago. Right here, next to the
sign. I'm always dreaming of doing that. Just here, just above the
floor, that's where he's crushed onto the wall, his arms stretched out,
his fingers spread apart, his crooked legs twisted round into a circle
and blood squirted out all around him. It's only ever been a dream so
far, though. " "Is there nothing else you do? " asked K. with a smile.
"Nothing that I know of," said the usher. "And it's going to get even
worse now, up till now he's only been carrying her off for himself, now
he's started carrying her off for the judge and all, just like I'd
always said he would. " "Does your wife, then, not share some of the
responsibility? " asked K. He had to force himself as he asked this
question, as he, too, felt so jealous now. "Course she does," said the
usher, "it's more her fault than theirs. It was her who attached
herself to him. All he did, he just chases after any woman. There's
five flats in this block alone where he's been thrown out after working
his way in there. And my wife is the best looking woman in the whole
building, but it's me who's not even allowed to defend himself. " "If
that's how things are, then there's nothing that can be done," said K.
"Well why not? " asked the usher. "He's a coward that student, if he
wants to lay a finger on my wife all you'd have to do is give him such a
good hiding he'd never dare do it again. But I'm not allowed to do
that, and nobody else is going to do me the favour as they're all afraid
of his power. The only one who could do it is a man like you. " "What,
how could I do it? " asked K. in astonishment.
"Well you're facing a charge, aren't you," said the usher. "Yes, but
that's all the more reason for me to be afraid. Even if he has no
influence on the outcome of the trial he probably has some on the
initial examination. " "Yes, exactly," said the usher, as if K. 's view
had been just as correct as his own. "Only we don't usually get any
trials heard here with no hope at all. " "I am not of the same opinion",
said K. , "although that ought not to prevent me from dealing with the
student if the opportunity arises. " "I would be very grateful to you,"
said the usher of the court, somewhat formally, not really seeming to
believe that his highest wish could be fulfilled. "Perhaps," continued
K. , "perhaps there are some other officials of yours here, perhaps all
of them, who would deserve the same. " "Oh yes, yes," said the usher, as
if this was a matter of course. Then he looked at K. trustingly which,
despite all his friendliness, he had not done until then, and added,
"they're always rebelling. " But the conversation seemed to have become
a little uncomfortable for him, as he broke it off by saying, "now I
have to report to the office. Would you like to come with me? "
"There's nothing for me to do there," said K.
"You'd be able to have a look at it. No-one will take any notice of
you. " "Is it worth seeing then? " asked K. hesitatingly, although he
felt very keen to go with him. "Well," said the usher, "I thought you'd
be interested in it. " "Alright then," said K. finally, "I'll come with
you. " And, quicker than the usher himself, he ran up the steps.

At the entrance he nearly fell over, as behind the door there was
another step. "They don't show much concern for the public," he said.
"They don't show any concern at all," said the usher, "just look at the
waiting room here. " It consisted of a long corridor from which roughly
made doors led out to the separate departments of the attic. There was
no direct source of light but it was not entirely dark as many of the
departments, instead of solid walls, had just wooden bars reaching up to
the ceiling to separate them from the corridor. The light made its way
in through them, and it was also possible to see individual officials
through them as they sat writing at their desks or stood up at the
wooden frameworks and watched the people on the corridor through the
gaps. There were only a few people in the corridor, probably because it
was Sunday. They were not very impressive. They sat, equally spaced,
on two rows of long wooden benches which had been placed along both
sides of the corridor. All of them were carelessly dressed although the
expressions on their faces, their bearing, the style of their beards and
many details which were hard to identify showed that they belonged to
the upper classes. There were no coat hooks for them to use, and so
they had placed their hats under the bench, each probably having
followed the example of the others. When those who were sitting nearest
the door saw K. and the usher of the court they stood up to greet them,
and when the others saw that, they also thought they had to greet them,
so that as the two of them went by all the people there stood up. None
of them stood properly upright, their backs were bowed, their knees
bent, they stood like beggars on the street. K. waited for the usher,
who was following just behind him. "They must all be very dispirited,"
he said. "Yes," said the usher, "they are the accused, everyone you see
here has been accused. " "Really! " said K. "They're colleagues of mine
then. " And he turned to the nearest one, a tall, thin man with hair
that was nearly grey. "What is it you are waiting for here? " asked K. ,
politely, but the man was startled at being spoken to unexpectedly,
which was all the more pitiful to see because the man clearly had some
experience of the world and elsewhere would certainly have been able to
show his superiority and would not have easily given up the advantage he
had acquired. Here, though, he did not know what answer to give to such
a simple question and looked round at the others as if they were under
some obligation to help him, and as if no-one could expect any answer
from him without this help. Then the usher of the court stepped forward
to him and, in order to calm him down and raise his spirits, said, "The
gentleman here's only asking what it is you're waiting for. You can
give him an answer. " The voice of the usher was probably familiar to
him, and had a better effect than K. 's. "I'm . . . I'm waiting . . . " he
began, and then came to a halt. He had clearly chosen this beginning so
that he could give a precise answer to the question, but now he didn't
know how to continue. Some of the others waiting had come closer and
stood round the group, the usher of the court said to them, "Get out the
way, keep the gangway free. " They moved back slightly, but not as far
as where they had been sitting before. In the meantime, the man whom K.
had first approached had pulled himself together and even answered him
with a smile.
"A month ago I made some applications for evidence to be heard in my
case, and I'm waiting for it to be settled. " "You certainly seem to be
going to a lot of effort," said K. "Yes," said the man, "it is my
affair after all.
" "Not everyone thinks the same way as you do," said
K. "I've been indicted as well but I swear on my soul that I've neither
submitted evidence nor done anything else of the sort. Do you really
think that's necessary? " "I don't really know, exactly," said the man,
once more totally unsure of himself; he clearly thought K. was joking
with him and therefore probably thought it best to repeat his earlier
answer in order to avoid making any new mistakes. With K. looking at
him impatiently, he just said, "as far as I'm concerned, I've applied to
have this evidence heard. " "Perhaps you don't believe I've been
indicted? " asked K. "Oh, please, I certainly do," said the man,
stepping slightly to one side, but there was more anxiety in his answer
than belief. "You don't believe me then? " asked K. , and took hold of
his arm, unconsciously prompted by the man's humble demeanour, and as if
he wanted to force him to believe him. But he did not want to hurt the
man and had only taken hold of him very lightly. Nonetheless, the man
cried out as if K. had grasped him not with two fingers but with red hot
tongs. Shouting in this ridiculous way finally made K. tired of him, if
he didn't believe he was indicted then so much the better; maybe he even
thought K. was a judge. And before leaving, he held him a lot harder,
shoved him back onto the bench and walked on. "These defendants are so
sensitive, most of them," said the usher of the court. Almost all of
those who had been waiting had now assembled around the man who, by now,
had stopped shouting and they seemed to be asking him lots of precise
questions about the incident. K. was approached by a security guard,
identifiable mainly by his sword, of which the scabbard seemed to be
made of aluminium. This greatly surprised K. , and he reached out for it
with his hand. The guard had come because of the shouting and asked
what had been happening. The usher of the court said a few words to try
and calm him down but the guard explained that he had to look into it
himself, saluted, and hurried on, walking with very short steps,
probably because of gout.

K. didn't concern himself long with the guard or these people,
especially as he saw a turning off the corridor, about half way along it
on the right hand side, where there was no door to stop him going that
way. He asked the usher whether that was the right way to go, the usher
nodded, and that is the way that K. went. The usher remained always one
or two steps behind K, which he found irritating as in a place like this
it could give the impression that he was being driven along by someone
who had arrested him, so he frequently waited for the usher to catch up,
but the usher always remained behind him. In order to put an end to his
discomfort, K. finally said, "Now that I've seen what it looks like
here, I'd like to go. " "You haven't seen everything yet," said the
usher ingenuously.
"I don't want to see everything," said K. , who was also feeling very
tired, "I want to go, what is the way to the exit? " "You haven't got
lost, have you? " asked the usher in amazement, "you go down this way to
the corner, then right down the corridor straight ahead as far as the
door. " "Come with me," said K. , "show me the way, I'll miss it, there
are so many different ways here. " "It's the only way there is," said
the usher, who had now started to sound quite reproachful, "I can't go
back with you again, I've got to hand in my report, and I've already
lost a lot of time because of you as it is. " "Come with me! " K.
repeated, now somewhat sharper as if he had finally caught the usher out
in a lie. "Don't shout like that," whispered the usher, "there's
offices all round us here. If you don't want to go back by yourself
come on a bit further with me or else wait here till I've sorted out my
report, then I'll be glad to go back with you again. " "No, no," said
K. , "I will not wait and you must come with me now. " K. had still not
looked round at anything at all in the room where he found himself, and
it was only when one of the many wooden doors all around him opened that
he noticed it. A young woman, probably summoned by the loudness of K. 's
voice, entered and asked, "What is it the gentleman wants? " In the
darkness behind her there was also a man approaching. K. looked at the
usher. He had, after all, said that no-one would take any notice of K. ,
and now there were two people coming, it only needed a few and everyone
in the office would become aware of him and asking for explanations as
to why he was there. The only understandable and acceptable thing to
say was that he was accused of something and wanted to know the date of
his next hearing, but this was an explanation he did not want to give,
especially as it was not true - he had only come out of curiosity. Or
else, an explanation even less usable, he could say that he wanted to
ascertain that the court was as revolting on the inside as it was on the
outside. And it did seem that he had been quite right in this
supposition, he had no wish to intrude any deeper, he was disturbed
enough by what he had seen already, he was not in the right frame of
mind just then to face a high official such as might appear from behind
any door, and he wanted to go, either with the usher of the court or, if
needs be, alone.

But he must have seemed very odd standing there in silence, and
the young woman and the usher were indeed looking at him as if they
thought he would go through some major metamorphosis any second which
they didn't want to miss seeing. And in the doorway stood the man whom
K. had noticed in the background earlier, he held firmly on to the beam
above the low door swinging a little on the tips of his feet as if
becoming impatient as he watched. But the young woman was the first to
recognise that K. 's behaviour was caused by his feeling slightly unwell,
she brought a chair and asked,
"Would you not like to sit down? " K. sat down immediately and, in order
to keep his place better, put his elbows on the armrests. "You're a
little bit dizzy, aren't you? " she asked him. Her face was now close in
front of him, it bore the severe expression that many young women have
just when they're in the bloom of their youth. "It's nothing for you to
worry about," she said, "that's nothing unusual here, almost everyone
gets an attack like that the first time they come here. This is your
first time is it? Yes, it's nothing unusual then. The sun burns down
on the roof and the hot wood makes the air so thick and heavy. It makes
this place rather unsuitable for offices, whatever other advantages it
might offer. But the air is almost impossible to breathe on days when
there's a lot of business, and that's almost every day. And when you
think that there's a lot of washing put out to dry here as well - and we
can't stop the tenants doing that - it's not surprising you started to
feel unwell. But you get used to the air alright in the end. When
you're here for the second or third time you'll hardly notice how
oppressive the air is. Are you feeling any better now? " K. made no
answer, he felt too embarrassed at being put at the mercy of these
people by his sudden weakness, and learning the reason for feeling ill
made him feel not better but a little worse. The girl noticed it
straight away, and to make the air fresher for K. , she took a window
pole that was leaning against the wall and pushed open a small hatch
directly above K. 's head that led to the outside. But so much soot fell
in that the girl had to immediately close the hatch again and clean the
soot off K. 's hands with her handkerchief, as K. was too tired to do
that for himself. He would have liked just to sit quietly where he was
until he had enough strength to leave, and the less fuss people made
about him the sooner that would be. But then the girl said, "You can't
stay here, we're in people's way here . . . " K. looked at her as if to
ask whose way they were impeding. "If you like, I can take you to the
sick room," and turning to the man in the doorway said, "please help
me". The man immediately came over to them, but K. did not want to go
to the sick room, that was just what he wanted to avoid, being led
further from place to place, the further he went the more difficult it
must become. So he said, "I am able to walk now," and stood up, shaking
after becoming used to sitting so comfortably. But then he was unable
to stay upright. "I can't manage it," he said shaking his head, and sat
down again with a sigh. He remembered the usher who, despite
everything, would have been able to lead him out of there but who seemed
to have gone long before. K. looked out between the man and the young
woman who were standing in front of him but was unable to find the
usher. "I think," said the man, who was elegantly dressed and whose
appearance was made especially impressive with a grey waistcoat that had
two long, sharply tailored points, "the gentleman is feeling unwell
because of the atmosphere here, so the best thing, and what he would
most prefer, would be not to take him to the sick room but get him out
of the offices altogether. " "That's right," exclaimed K. , with such joy
that he nearly interrupted what the man was saying, "I'm sure that'll
make me feel better straight away, I'm really not that weak, all I need
is a little support under my arms, I won't cause you much trouble, it's
not such a long way anyway, lead me to the door and then I'll sit on the
stairs for a while and soon recover, as I don't suffer from attacks like
this at all, I'm surprised at it myself. I also work in an office and
I'm quite used to office air, but here it seems to be too strong, you've
said so yourselves. So please, be so kind as to help me on my way a
little, I'm feeling dizzy, you see, and it'll make me ill if I stand up
by myself. " And with that he raised his shoulders to make it easier for
the two of them to take him by the arms.

The man, however, didn't follow this suggestion but just stood
there with his hands in his trouser pockets and laughed out loud.
"There, you see," he said to the girl, "I was quite right. The
gentleman is only unwell here, and not in general. " The young woman
smiled too, but lightly tapped the man's arm with the tips of her
fingers as if he had allowed himself too much fun with K. "So what do
you think, then? " said the man, still laughing, "I really do want to
lead the gentleman out of here. " "That's alright, then," said the girl,
briefly inclining her charming head. "Don't worry too much about him
laughing," said the girl to K. , who had become unhappy once more and
stared quietly in front of himself as if needing no further explanation.
"This gentleman - may I introduce you? " - (the man gave his permission
with a wave of the hand) - "so, this gentleman's job is to give out
information. He gives all the information they need to people who are
waiting, as our court and its offices are not very well known among the
public he gets asked for quite a lot. He has an answer for every
question, you can try him out if you feel like it. But that's not his
only distinction, his other distinction is his elegance of dress. We,
that's to say all of us who work in the offices here, we decided that
the information-giver would have to be elegantly dressed as he
continually has to deal with the litigants and he's the first one they
meet, so he needs to give a dignified first impression. The rest of us
I'm afraid, as you can see just by looking at me, dress very badly and
old-fashioned; and there's not much point in spending much on clothes
anyway, as we hardly ever leave the offices, we even sleep here. But,
as I said, we decided that the information-giver would have to have nice
clothes. As the management here is rather peculiar in this respect, and
they would get them for us, we had a collection - some of the litigants
contributed too - and bought him these lovely clothes and some others
besides. So everything would be ready for him to give a good
impression, except that he spoils it again by laughing and frightening
people. " "That's how it is," said the man, mocking her, "but I don't
understand why it is that you're explaining all our intimate facts to
the gentleman, or rather why it is that you're pressing them on him, as
I'm sure he's not all interested. Just look at him sitting there, it's
clear he's occupied with his own affairs. " K. just did not feel like
contradicting him. . The girl's intention may have been good, perhaps she
was under instructions to distract him or to give him the chance to
collect himself, but the attempt had not worked. "I had to explain to
him why you were laughing," said the girl. "I suppose it was
insulting. " "I think he would forgive even worse insults if I finally
took him outside. " K. said nothing, did not even look up, he tolerated
the two of them negotiating over him like an object, that was even what
suited him best. But suddenly he felt the information-giver's hand on
one arm and the young woman's hand on the other. "Up you get then,
weakling," said the information-giver. "Thank you both very much," said
K. , pleasantly surprised, as he slowly rose and personally guided these
unfamiliar hands to the places where he most needed support.
As they approached the corridor, the girl said quietly into K. 's ear, "I
must seem to think it's very important to show the information-giver in
a good light, but you shouldn't doubt what I say, I just want to say the
truth. He isn't hard-hearted. It's not really his job to help
litigants outside if they're unwell but he's doing it anyway, as you can
see. I don't suppose any of us is hard-hearted, perhaps we'd all like
to be helpful, but working for the court offices it's easy for us to
give the impression we are hard-hearted and don't want to help anyone.
It makes me quite sad. " "Would you not like to sit down here a while? "
asked the information-giver, there were already in the corridor and just
in front of the defendant whom K. had spoken to earlier. K. felt almost
ashamed to be seen by him, earlier he had stood so upright in front of
him and now he had to be supported by two others, his hat was held up by
the information-giver balanced on outstretched fingers, his hair was
dishevelled and hung down onto the sweat on his forehead. But the
defendant seemed to notice nothing of what was going on and just stood
there humbly, as if wanting to apologise to the information-giver for
being there. The information-giver looked past him. "I know," he said,
"that my case can't be settled today, not yet, but I've come in anyway,
I thought, I thought I could wait here anyway, it's Sunday today, I've
got plenty of time, and I'm not disturbing anyone here. " "There's no
need to be so apologetic," said the information-giver, "it's very
commendable for you to be so attentive. You are taking up space here
when you don't need to but as long as you don't get in my way I will do
nothing to stop you following the progress of your case as closely as
you like. When one has seen so many people who shamefully neglect their
cases one learns to show patience with people like you. Do sit down. "
"He's very good with the litigants," whispered the girl. K. nodded, but
started to move off again when the information-giver repeated, "Would
you not like to sit down here a while? " "No," said K. , "I don't want to
rest. " He had said that as decisively as he could, but in fact it
would have done him a lot of good to sit down. It was as if he were
suffering sea-sickness. He felt as if he were on a ship in a rough sea,
as if the water were hitting against the wooden walls, a thundering from
the depths of the corridor as if the torrent were crashing over it, as
if the corridor were swaying and the waiting litigants on each side of
it rising and sinking. It made the calmness of the girl and the man
leading him all the more incomprehensible. He was at their mercy, if
they let go of him he would fall like a board. Their little eyes
glanced here and there, K. could feel the evenness of their steps but
could not do the same, as from step to step he was virtually being
carried. He finally noticed they were speaking to him but he did not
understand them, all he heard was a noise that filled all the space and
through which there seemed to be an unchanging higher note sounding,
like a siren. "Louder," he whispered with his head sunk low, ashamed at
having to ask them to speak louder when he knew they had spoken loudly
enough, even if it had been, for him, incomprehensible. At last, a
draught of cool air blew in his face as if a gap had been torn out in
the wall in front of him, and next to him he heard someone say, "First
he says he wants to go, and then you can tell him a hundred times that
this is the way out and he doesn't move. " K. became aware that he was
standing in front of the way out, and that the young woman had opened
the door. It seemed to him that all his strength returned to him at
once, and to get a foretaste of freedom he stepped straight on to one of
the stairs and took his leave there of his companions, who bowed to him.
"Thank you very much," he repeated, shook their hands once more and did
not let go until he thought he saw that they found it hard to bear the
comparatively fresh air from the stairway after being so long used to
the air in the offices. They were hardly able to reply, and the young
woman might even have fallen over if K. had not shut the door extremely
fast. K. then stood still for a while, combed his hair with the help of
a pocket mirror, picked up his hat from the next stair - the
information-giver must have thrown it down there - and then he ran down
the steps so fresh and in such long leaps that the contrast with his
previous state nearly frightened him. His normally sturdy state of
health had never prepared him for surprises such as this. Did his body
want to revolt and cause him a new trial as he was bearing the old one
with such little effort? He did not quite reject the idea that he
should see a doctor the next time he had the chance, but whatever he did
- and this was something on which he could advise himself - he wanted to
spend all Sunday mornings in future better than he had spent this one.




Chapter Four
Miss Burstner's Friend

For some time after this, K. found it impossible to exchange even
just a few words with Miss Burstner. He tried to reach her in many and
various ways but she always found a way to avoid it. He would come
straight home from the office, remain in her room without the light on,
and sit on the sofa with nothing more to distract him than keeping watch
on the empty hallway. If the maid went by and closed the door of the
apparently empty room he would get up after a while and open it again.
He got up an hour earlier than usual in the morning so that he might
perhaps find Miss Burstner alone as she went to the office. But none of
these efforts brought any success. Then he wrote her a letter, both to
the office and the flat, attempting once more to justify his behaviour,
offered to make whatever amends he could, promised never to cross
whatever boundary she might set him and begged merely to have the chance
to speak to her some time, especially as he was unable to do anything
with Mrs. Grubach either until he had spoken with Miss Burstner, he
finally informed her that the following Sunday he would stay in his room
all day waiting for a sign from her that there was some hope of his
request being fulfilled, or at least that she would explain to him why
she could not fulfil it even though he had promised to observe whatever
stipulations she might make. The letters were not returned, but there
was no answer either. However, on the following Sunday there was a sign
that seemed clear enough. It was still early when K.