tongue-wagger!” Here she turned to K. and went on: “You mustn’t believe a word he says.
He’s a nice fellow but his tongue wags far too much. Perhaps that’s why the lawyer can’t
bear him. Anyhow, he never consents to see him unless he’s in a good mood. I’ve tried my
best to change that, but it can’t be done. Only fancy, sometimes I tell the lawyer Block is
here and he puts off seeing him for three days together. And then if Block isn’t on the spot
when he’s called for, his chance is gone and I have to announce him all over again. That’s
why I let Block sleep here, for it has happened before now that he has been rung for in the
middle of the night. So Block has to be ready night and day. It sometimes happens, too,
that the lawyer changes his mind, once he has discovered that Block actually is on the spot,
and refuses the interview.” K. threw a questioning glance at the tradesman, who nodded
and said, with the same frankness as before, or perhaps merely discomposed by a feeling
of shame: “Yes, one becomes very dependent on one’s lawyer in the course of time.” “He’s
just pretending to complain,” said Leni, “for he likes sleeping here, as he has often told
me.” She went over to a small door and pushed it open. “Would you like to see his
bedroom?” she asked. K. followed her and gazed from the threshold into a low-roofed
chamber with no window which had room only for a narrow bed. One had to climb over
the bedposts to get into the bed. At the head of it, in a recess in the wall, stood a candle, an
ink well, and a pen, carefully arranged beside a bundle of papers, probably documents
concerning the case. “So you sleep in the maid’s room?” asked K., turning to the
tradesman. “Leni lets me have it,” said he, “it’s very convenient.” K. gave him a long look;
the first impression he had had of the man was perhaps, after all, the right one; Block was a
man of experience, certainly, since his case had lasted for years, yet he had paid dearly for
his experience. Suddenly K. could no longer bear the sight of him. “Put him to bed,” he
cried to Leni, who seemed not to comprehend what he meant. Yet what he wanted was to
get away to the lawyer and dismiss from his life not only Huld but Leni and the tradesman
too. Before he could reach the room, however, Block spoke to him in a low voice: “Herr
K.” K. turned round angrily. “You’ve forgotten your promise,” said the tradesman,
reaching out imploringly toward K. “You were going to tell me one of your secrets.”
“True,” said K., casting a glance also at Leni, who was regarding him attentively, “well,
listen then, though it’s almost an open secret by this time. I’m going to the lawyer now to
dismiss him from my case.” “Dismiss him !” exclaimed the tradesman; he sprang from his
seat and rushed round the kitchen with upraised arms, crying as he ran: “He’s dismissing
the lawyer!” Leni made a grab at K. but Block got in her way, and she requited him with
her fists. Still clenching her fists, she chased after K., who was well ahead of her. He got
inside the lawyer’s room before she caught up with him; he tried to close the door behind
him, but Leni put one foot in the crack and reached through it to grab his arm and haul him
back. K. caught her wrist and squeezed it so hard that she had to loose her hold with a
whimper. She did not dare to force her way right in, but K. made certain by turning the key in the lock. *
“I’ve been waiting a long time for you,” said the lawyer from his bed, laying on the
table a document which he had been reading by the light of a candle, and putting on a pair
of spectacles through which he scrutinized K. sharply. Instead of apologizing K. said: “I
shan’t detain you long.” This remark, as it was no apology, the lawyer ignored, saying: “I