said Block, “the only pointless thing is to try taking independent action. As I told you, I
have five lawyers besides this one. You might think — as I did once — that I could safely
wash my hands of the case. But you would be wrong. I have to watch it more carefully
than if I had only one lawyer. I suppose you don’t understand that?” “No,” said K., laying
his hand appealingly on the other’s to keep him from talking so fast, “I would only like to
beg you to apeak more slowly, all these things are extremely important to me and I can’t
follow so quickly.” “I’m glad you reminded me,” said the tradesman; “of course you’re a
newcomer, you’re young in the matter. Your case is six months old, isn’t it? Yes, I’ve heard
about it. An infant of a case! But I’ve had to think these things out I don’t know how many
times, they’ve become a second nature to me.” “I suppose you’re thankful to think that your
case is so far advanced,” asked K., not liking to make a direct inquiry how the tradesman’s
case stood. But he received no direct answer either. “Yes, I’ve carried my burden for five
long years,” said Block, drooping his head, “it’s no small achievement, that.” Then he sat
silent for a little. K. listened to hear if Leni were coming back. On the one band he did not
want her to come in just then, for he had many questions still to ask, nor did he want her to
find him so deep in intimate conversation with the tradesman, but on the other hand he was
annoyed because she was spending so much time with the lawyer while he was in the
house, much more time than was needed for handing over a bowl of soup. “I can still
remember exactly,” the tradesman began again, and K. was at once all attention, “the days
when my case was at much the same stage as yours is now. I had only this lawyer then,
and I wasn’t particularly satisfied with him.” “Now I’m going to find out everything,”
thought K., nodding his head eagerly, as if that would encourage the tradesman to bring
out all the right information. “My case,” Block continued, “wasn’t making any progress;
there were of course interrogations, and I attended every one of them, I collected evidence,
I even laid all my account books before the Court, which wasn’t necessary at all, as I
discovered later. I kept running to the lawyer, he presented various petitions –” “Various
petitions?” asked K. “Yes, certainly,” said Block. “That’s an important point for me,” said
K., “for in my case he’s still working on the first petition. He’s done nothing at all yet. Now
I see how scandalously he’s neglecting me.” “There might be several excellent reasons why
the petition isn’t ready yet,” said Block. “Let me tell you that my petitions turned out later
to be quite worthless. I even had a look at one of them, thanks to the kindness of a Court
official. It was very learned but it said nothing of any consequence. Crammed with Latin in
the first place, which I don’t understand, and then whole pages of general appeals to the
Court, then flattering references to particular officials, who weren’t actually named but
were easy enough for anyone versed in these matters to recognize, then self-praise of the
lawyer himself, in the course of which he addressed the Court with a crawling humility,
ending up with an analysis of various cases from ancient times that were supposed to
resemble mine. I must say that this analysis, in so far as I could follow it, was very careful
and thorough. You mustn’t think that I’m passing judgment on the lawyer’s work; that
petition, after all, was only one of many; but at any rate, and this is what I’m coming to, I
couldn’t see that my case was making any progress.” “What kind of progress did you
expect to see?” asked K. “A good question,” said the tradesman with a smile, “it’s very rarely that progress in these cases is visible at all. But I didn’t know that then. I’m a