threads. “How dirty everything is here!” said K., shaking his head, and the woman had to
wipe away the worst of the dust with her apron before K. would put out his hand to touch
the books. He opened the first of them and found an indecent picture. A man and a woman
were sitting naked on a sofa, the obscene intention of the draftsman was evident enough,
yet his skill was so small that nothing emerged from the picture save the all-too-solid
figures of a man and a woman sitting rigidly upright, and because of the bad perspective,
apparently finding the utmost difficulty even in turning toward each other. K. did not look
at any of the other pages, but merely glanced at the title page of the second book, it was a
novel entitled: How Grete Was Plagued by Her Husband Hams. “These are the law books
that are studied here,” said K. “These are the men who are supposed to sit in judgment on
me.” “I’ll help you,” said the woman. “Would you like me to?” “Could you really do that
without getting yourself into trouble? You told me a moment ago that your husband is
quite at the mercy of the higher officials.” “I want to help you, all the same,” said the
woman. “Come, let us talk it over. Don’t bother about the danger to me. I only fear danger
when I want to fear it. Come.” She settled herself on the edge of the platform and made
room for him beside her. “You have lovely dark eyes,” she said, after they had sat down,
looking up into K.’s face, “I’ve been told that I have lovely eyes too, but yours are far
lovelier. I was greatly struck by you as soon as I saw you, the first time you came here.
And it was because of you that I slipped later into the courtroom, a thing I never do
otherwise and which, in a manner of speaking, I am actually forbidden to do.” “So this is
all it amounts to,” thought K., “she’s offering herself to me, she’s corrupt like the rest of
them, she’s tired of the officials here, which is understandable enough, and accosts any
stranger who takes her fancy with compliments about his eyes.” And K. rose to his feet as
if he had uttered his thoughts aloud and sufficiently explained his position. “I don’t think that could help me,” he said; “to help me effectively one would need connections with the
higher officials. But I’m sure you know only the petty subordinates that swarm round here.
You must know them quite well and could get them to do a lot, I don’t doubt, but the
utmost that they could do would have no effect whatever on the final result of the case.
And you would simply have alienated some of your friends. I don’t want that. Keep your
friendship with these people, for it seems to me that you need it. I say this with regret,
since to make some return for your compliment, I must confess that I like you too,
especially when you gaze at me with such sorrowful eyes, as you are doing now, though I
assure you there’s no reason whatever for it. Your place is among the people I have to
fight, but you’re quite at home there, you love this student, no doubt, or if you don’t love
him at least you prefer him to your husband. It’s easy to tell that from what you say.” “No,”
she cried without getting up but merely catching hold of K.’s hand, which he did not
withdraw quickly enough. “You mustn’t go away yet, you mustn’t go with mistaken ideas
about me. Could you really bring yourself to go away like that? Am I really of so little
account in your eyes that you won’t even do me the kindness of staying for a little longer?”
“You misunderstand me,” said K., sitting down, “if you really want me to stay I’ll stay with
pleasure, I have time enough; I came here expecting to find the Court in session. All that I
meant was merely to beg you not to do anything for me in this case of mine. But that