room made him look up. “I’m going now,” he said; he wanted to call Fräulein Bürstner by
her first name, but he did not know what it was. She nodded wearily, resigned her hand for
him to kiss, half turning away as if she were unaware of what she did, and went into her
room with down-bent head. Shortly afterwards K. was in his bed. He fell asleep almost at
once, but before doing so he thought for a little about his behavior, he was pleased with it,
yet surprised that he was not still more pleased; he was seriously concerned for Fräulein
Bürstner because of the Captain. Chapter 2
First Interrogation
K. WAS informed by telephone that next Sunday a short inquiry into his case would take
place. His attention was drawn to the fact that these inquiries would now follow each other
regularly, perhaps not every week, but at more frequent intervals as time went on. It was in
the general interest, on the one hand, that the case should be quickly concluded, but on the
other hand the interrogations must be thorough in every respect, although, because of the
strain involved, they must never last too long. For this reason the expedient of these
rapidly succeeding but short interrogations had been chosen. Sunday had been selected as
the day of inquiry so that K. might not be disturbed in his professional work. It was
assumed that he would agree to this arrangement, but if he preferred some other day they
would meet his wishes to the best of their ability. For instance, it would be possible to hold
the inquiries during the night, although then K. would probably not be fresh enough. At
any rate they would expect him on Sunday, if K. had no objection. It was, of course,
understood that he must appear without fail, he did not need to be reminded of that. He
was given the number of the house where he had to go, it was a house in an outlying
suburban street where he had never been before.
On receiving this message K. replaced the receiver without answering; his mind was
made up to keep the appointment on Sunday, it was absolutely essential, the case was
getting under way and he must fight it; this first interrogation must also be the last. He was
still standing thoughtfully beside the telephone when he heard behind him the voice of the
Assistant Manager, who wanted to telephone and found K. barring his way. “Bad news ?”
asked the Assistant Manager casually, not really wanting to know but merely eager to get
K. away from the telephone. “No, no,” said K., stepping aside but without going away. The
Assistant Manager lifted the receiver and said, speaking round it while he waited to be
connected: “Oh, a word with you, Herr K. Would you do me the favor of joining a party on
my yacht on Sunday morning? There will be quite a large party, doubtless some of your
friends will be among them. Herr Hasterer, the lawyer, among others. Will you come? Do
come K. made an effort to attend to what the Assistant Manager was saying. It was of no
slight importance to him, for this invitation from a man with whom he had never got on
very well was a sort of friendly overture and showed how important K. had become to the
Bank and how valuable his friendship or at least his neutrality had become to its second
highest official. The Assistant Manager had definitely humbled himself in giving this
invitation, even though he had merely dropped it casually while waiting at the telephone to
get a connection. Yet K. had to humble the man a second time, for he said: “Thanks very
much. But I’m sorry I have no time on Sunday, I have a previous engagement.” “A pity,”
said the Assistant Manager, turning to speak into the telephone, which had just been
connected. It was not a short conversation, but in his confusion K. remained standing the whole time beside the instrument. Not till the Assistant Manager had rung off did he start
out of his reverie in some alarm and say, to excuse his aimless loitering: “I have just been