“I have nearly finished,” said K., striking the table with his fist, since there was no
bell. At the shock of the impact the beads of the Examining Magistrate and his adviser
started away from each other for a moment. “I am quite detached from this affair, I can
therefore judge it calmly, and you, that is to say if you take this alleged court of justice at
all seriously, will find it to your great advantage to listen to me. But I beg you to postpone
until later any comments you may wish to exchange on what I have to say, for I am
pressed for time and must leave very soon.”
At once there was silence, so completely did K. already dominate the meeting. The
audience no longer shouted confusedly as at the beginning, they did not even applaud, they seemed already convinced or on the verge of being convinced.
“There can be no doubt –” said K., quite softly, for he was elated by the breathless
attention of the meeting; in that stillness a subdued hum was audible which was more
exciting than the wildest applause — “there can he no doubt that behind all the actions of
this court of justice, that is to say in my case, behind my arrest and today’s interrogation,
there is a great organization at work. An organization which not only employs corrupt
warders, oafish Inspectors, and Examining Magistrates of whom the best that can be said is
that they recognize their own limitations, but also has at its disposal a judicial hierarchy of
high, indeed of the highest rank, with an indispensable and numerous retinue of servants,
clerks, police, and other assistants, perhaps even hangmen, I do not shrink from that word.
And the significance of this great organization, gentlemen? It consists in this, that innocent
persons are accused of guilt, and senseless proceedings are put in motion against them,
mostly without effect, it is true, as in my own case. But considering the senselessness of
the whole, how is it possible for the higher ranks to prevent gross corruption in their
agents? It is impossible. Even the highest Judge in this organization cannot resist it. So the
warders try to steal the clothes off the bodies of the people they arrest, the Inspectors break
into strange houses, and innocent men, instead of being fairly examined, are humiliated in
the presence of public assemblies. The warders mentioned certain depots where the
property of prisoners is kept; I should like to see these depots where the hard-earned
property of arrested men is left to rot, or at least what remains of it after thieving officials
have helped themselves.”
Here K. was interrupted by a shriek from the end of the hail; he peered from beneath
his hand to see what was happening, for the reek of the room and the dim light together
made a whitish dazzle of fog. It was the washer-woman, whom K. had recognized as a
potential cause of disturbance from the moment of her entrance. Whether she was at fault
now or not, one could not tell. All K. could see was that a man had drawn her into a corner
by the door and was clasping her in his arms. * Yet it was not she who had uttered the
shriek but the man; his mouth was wide open and he was gazing up at the ceiling. A little
circle had formed round them, the gallery spectators near by seemed to be delighted that
the seriousness which K. had introduced into the proceedings should be dispelled in this
manner. K.’s first impulse was to rush across the room, he naturally imagined that
everybody would be anxious to have order restored and the offending couple at least
ejected from the meeting, but the first rows of the audience remained quite impassive, no
one stirred and no one would let him through. On the contrary they actually obstructed
him, someone’s hand — he had no time to turn round — seized him from behind by the
collar, old men stretched out their arms to bar his way, and by this time K. was no longer
thinking about the couple, it seemed to him as if his freedom were being threatened, as if