orders to arrest some house painter who is just as innocent as I am, only they hit on me.
The room next to mine was requisitioned by two coarse warders. If I had been a dangerous
bandit they could not have taken more careful precautions. These warders, moreover, were
degenerate ruffians, they deafened my ears with their gabble, they tried to induce me to
bribe them, they attempted to get my clothes and underclothes from me under dishonest
pretexts, they asked me to give them money ostensibly to bring me some breakfast after
they had brazenly eaten my own breakfast under my eyes. But that was not all. I was led
into a third room to confront the Inspector. It was the room of a lady whom I deeply
respect, and I had to look on while this room was polluted, yes, polluted, on my account
but not by any fault of mine, through the presence of these warders and this Inspector. It
was not easy for me to remain calm. I succeeded, however, and I asked the Inspector with
the utmost calm if he were here, he would have to substantiate that — why I had been
arrested. And what was the answer of this Inspector, whom I can see before me now as lie
lounged in a chair belonging to the lady I have mentioned, like an embodiment of crass
arrogance? Gentlemen, he answered in effect nothing at all, perhaps he really knew nothing; he had arrested me and that was enough. But that is not all, he had brought three
minor employees of my Bank into the lady’s roomy who amused themselves by fingering
and disarranging certain photographs, the property of the lady. The presence of these
employees had another object as well, of course, they were expected, like my landlady and
her maid, to spread the news of my arrest, damage my public reputation, and in particular
shake my position in the Bank. Well, this expectation has entirely failed of its success,
even my landlady, a quite simple person — I pronounce her name in all honor, she is called
Frau Grubach — even Frau Grubach has been intelligent enough to recognize that an arrest
such as this is no more worth taking seriously than some wild prank committed by stray
urchins at the street corners. I repeat, the whole matter has caused me nothing but some
unpleasantness and passing annoyance, but might it not have had worse consequences?”
When K. stopped at this point and glanced at the silent Examining Magistrate, he
thought he could see him catching someone’s eye in the audience, as if giving a sign. K.
smiled and said: “The Examining Magistrate sitting here beside me has just given one of
you a secret sign. So there are some among you who take your instructions from up here. I
do not know whether the sign was meant to evoke applause or hissing, and now that I have
divulged the matter prematurely I deliberately give up all hope of ever learning its real
significance. It is a matter of complete indifference to me, and I publicly empower the
Examining Magistrate to address his hired agents in so many words, instead of making
secret signs to them, to say at the proper moment: Hiss now, or alternatively: Clap now.”
The Examining Magistrate kept fidgeting on his chair with embarrassment or
impatience. The man behind him to whom he had been talking bent over him again, either
to encourage him or to give him some particular counsel. Down below, the people in the
audience were talking in low voices but with animation. The two factions who had seemed
previously to be irreconcilable, were now drifting together, some individuals were pointing
their fingers at K., others at the Examining Magistrate. The fuggy atmosphere in the room
was unbearable, it actually prevented one from seeing the people at the other end. It must
have been particularly inconvenient for the spectators in the gallery, who were forced to
question the members of the audience in a low voice, with fearful sideglances at the
Examining Magistrate, to find out what was happening. The answers were given as
furtively, the informant generally putting his hand to his mouth to muffle his words.