lawyer, “but we mustn’t be in too much of a hurry.” He used the word “we” as if he had no
intention of letting K. detach himself, as if he meant to remain at least K.’s adviser if not
his official agent. “It’s not a hurried decision,” said K., slowly getting up and retreating
behind his chair, “I have thought it well over, perhaps even for too long. It is my final
decision.” “Then allow me a few comments,” said the lawyer, throwing off his feather quilt
and sitting on the edge of the bed. His bare legs, sprinkled with white hairs, trembled with
cold. He asked K. to hand him a rug from the sofa. K. fetched the rug and said: “It’s quite
unnecessary for you to expose yourself to a chill.” “I have grave enough reasons for it,”
said the lawyer, wrapping the bed quilt round his shoulders and tucking the rug round his
legs. “Your uncle is a friend of mine, and I’ve grown fond of you, too, in the course of
time. I admit it freely. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” This outburst of sentiment from the
old man was most unwelcome to K., for it compelled him to be more explicit in his
statements, which he would have liked to avoid, and disconcerted him too, as he frankly
admitted to himself, although without in the least affecting his decision. “I am grateful for
your friendly attitude,” he said, “and I appreciate that you have done all you could do for
what you thought to be my advantage. But for some time now I have been growing
convinced that your efforts are not enough. I shall not, of course, attempt to thrust my
opinions on a man so much older and more experienced than myself; if I have unwittingly
seemed to do so, please forgive me, but I have grave enough reasons for it, to use your
own phrase, and I am convinced that it is necessary to take much more energetic steps in
this case of mine than have been taken so far.” “I understand you,” said the lawyer, “you
are feeling impatient.” “I’m not impatient,” said K., a little irritated and therefore less
careful in his choice of words, “you must have noticed on my very first visit here, when I
came with my uncle, that I did not take my case very seriously; if I wasn’t forcibly
reminded of it, so to speak, I forgot it completely. Still my uncle insisted on my engaging
you as my representative, and I did so to please him. One would naturally have expected
the case to weigh even less on my conscience after that, since after all one engages a
lawyer to shift the burden a little on to his shoulders. But the very opposite of that resulted.
I was never so much plagued by my case as I have been since engaging you to represent
me. When I stood alone I did nothing at all, yet it hardly bothered me; after acquiring a
lawyer, on the other hand, I felt that the stage was set for something to happen, I waited
with unceasing and growing expectancy for your intervention, and you did nothing
whatever. I admit that you gave me information about the Court which I probably could
not have obtained elsewhere. But that is hardly adequate assistance for a man who feels this thing secretly encroaching upon him and literally touching him to the quick.” K. had
pushed the chair away and now stood upright, his hands in his jacket pockets. “After a
certain stage in one s practice,” said the lawyer quietly in a low voice, * “nothing really
new ever happens. How many of my clients have reached the same point in their cases and
stood before me in exactly the same frame of mind as you and said the same things!”
“Well,” said K., “then they were all as much in the right as I am. That doesn’t counter my
arguments.” “I wasn’t trying to counter them,” said the lawyer, “but I should like to add
that I expected you to show more judgment than the others, especially as I have given you