slightly cocked, “doesn’t please me at all, that isn’t how an innocent man behaves if he’s
still in his senses. Just tell me quickly what it is all about, so that I can help you. It’s
something to do with the Bank, of course?” “No,” said K., getting up. “But you’re talking
too loudly, Uncle, I feel pretty certain the attendant is listening at the door, and I dislike the idea. We had better go out somewhere. I’ll answer all your questions then as far as I can. I
know quite well that I owe the family an explanation.” “Right,” cried his uncle, “quite
right, but hurry, Joseph, hurry!” “I have only to leave some instructions,” said K., and he
summoned his chief assistant by telephone, who appeared in a few minutes. In his agitation
K.’s uncle indicated to the clerk by a sweep of the hand that K. had sent for him, which, of
course, was obvious enough. K., standing beside his desk, took up various papers and in a
low voice explained to the young man, who listened coolly but attentively, what must be
done in his absence. His uncle disturbed him by standing beside him round-eyed and biting
his lips nervously; he was not actually listening, but the appearance of listening was
disturbing enough in itself. He next began to pace up and down the room, pausing every
now and then by the window or before a picture, with sudden ejaculations, such as: “It’s
completely incomprehensible to me” or “Goodness knows what’s to come of this.” The
young man behaved as if he noticed nothing, quietly heard K.’s instructions to the end,
took a few notes, and went, after having bowed both to K. and to his uncle, who, however,
had his back to him just then and was gazing out of the window, flinging out his arms, and
clutching at the curtains. The door had scarcely closed when K.’s uncle cried: “At last that
jackass has gone; now we can go too. At last !” Unluckily K. could find no means to make
his uncle stop inquiring about the case in the main vestibule, where several clerks and
attendants were standing about, while the Assistant Manager himself was crossing the
floor. “Come now, Joseph,” began his uncle, returning a brief nod to the bows of the
waiting clerks, “tell me frankly now what kind of a case this is.” K. made a few
noncommittal remarks, laughing a little, and only on the staircase explained to his uncle
that he had not wanted to speak openly before the clerks. “Right,” said his uncle, “but get it
off your chest now.” He listened with bent head, puffing hastily at a cigar. “The first thing
to grasp, Uncle,” said K., “is that this is not a case before an ordinary court.” “That’s bad,”
said his uncle. “What do you mean ?” asked K., looking at his uncle. “I mean that it’s. bad,”
repeated his uncle. They were standing on the out- side steps of the Bank; as the
doorkeeper seemed to be listening, K. dragged his uncle away; they were swallowed up in
the street traffic. The uncle, who had taken K.’s arm, now no longer inquired so urgently
about the case, and for a while they actually walked on in silence. “But how did this
happen?” his uncle asked at last, stopping so suddenly that the people walking behind him
shied off in alarm. “Things like this don’t occur suddenly, they pile up gradually, there
must have been indications. Why did you never write to me? You know I would do
anything for you, I’m still your guardian in a sense and till now I have been proud of it. Of
course I’ll do what I can to help you, only it’s very difficult when the case is already under
way. The best thing, at any rate, would be for you to take a short holiday and come to stay
with us in the country. You’ve got a bit thinner, I notice that now. You’d get back your
strength in the country, that would be all to the good, for this trial will certainly be a severe
strain on you. But besides that, in a sense you’d be getting away from the clutches of the