question and replied: “I should continue with those measures that I have already begun.” “I
knew it,” said K., “well, it’s a waste of time to go on talking.” “I’ll make one more attempt,”
said the lawyer, as if it were K. who was at fault and not himself. “I have an idea that what
makes you so wrongheaded not only in your judgment of my legal assistance but also in
your general behavior is the fact that you have been treated too well, although you are an
accused man, or rather, more precisely, that you have been treated with negligence, with
apparent negligence. There’s a reason for the negligence, of course; it’s often better to be in
chains than to be free. But I’d like to show you how other accused men are treated, and
perhaps you may learn a thing or two. I shall now send for Block; you’d better unlock the
door and sit here beside the bed table.” “With pleasure,” said K., fulfilling these
injunctions; he was always ready to learn. As a precaution, however, he asked once more:
“You realize that I am dispensing with your services?” “Yes,” said the lawyer, “but you
may change your mind about it yet.” He lay back in bed again, drew the quilt up to his
chin, and turned his face to the wall. Then he rang the bell.
Almost at the same moment Leni was on the spot, darting quick glances to learn what
was happening; she seemed to find it reassuring that K. was sitting so quietly beside the
lawyer’s bed. She nodded to him with a smile, but he gazed at her blankly. “Fetch Block,”
said the lawyer. Instead of fetching Block, however, she merely went to the door, called
out: “Block! The lawyer wants you !” and then, probably because the lawyer had his face
turned to the wall and was paying no attention to her, insinuated herself behind K., where
she distracted him during all the rest of the proceedings by leaning over the back of his
chair or running her fingers , gently and cautiously enough, through his hair and over his
temples. In the end K. sought to prevent her by holding on to her hand, which after a little
resistance she surrendered to him.
Block had answered the summons immediately, yet he hesitated outside the door,
apparently wondering whether he was to come in or not. He raised his eyebrows and
cocked his head as if listening for the summons to be repeated. K. could have encouraged
the man to come in, but he was determined to make a final break not only with the lawyer
but with all the persons in the house, and so he remained motionless. Leni too was silent.
Block noticed that at least no one was turning him away, and he tiptoed into the room with
anxious face and hands clutched behind him, leaving the door open to secure his retreat. He did not once look at K., but kept his eyes fixed on the humped-up quilt beneath which
the lawyer was not even visible, since he had shifted close up to the wall. A voice,
however, came from the bed, saying: “Is that Block?” This question acted like a blow upon
Block, who had advanced a goodish way; he staggered, as if he had been hit on the chest
and then beaten on the back, and, bowing deeply, stood still, answering: “At your service.”
“What do you want ?” asked the lawyer. “You’ve come at the wrong time.” “Wasn’t I called
for?” said Block, snore to himself than to the lawyer, thrusting out his hands as if to guard
himself, and preparing to back out. “You were called for,” said the lawyer, “and yet you’ve
come at the wrong time.” After a pause he added: “You always come at the wrong time.”
From the moment when the lawyer’s voice was heard Block averted his eyes from the bed
and stood merely listening, gazing into a far corner, as if the sight of the lawyer were too
dazzling to bear. But it was difficult for him even to listen, since the lawyer was speaking
close to the wall and in a voice both low and quick. “Do you want me to go away?” asked