By comparison with her, his father didn’t seem to be so important, and all questions about his family life, however they were phrased, remained unanswered. They did learn that his father was the leading shoemaker in the village, he had no equal, as Hans frequently repeated, even in answer to quite different questions. Why, he even gave work to other shoemakers, such as Barnabas’s father, although in that case Brunswick probably did it only as a special favour, or so at least Hans’s proud turn of the head suggested. That made Frieda bend down to him quickly and give him a kiss. Asked whether he had ever been in the castle, Hans answered only after many repetitions, and then in the negative, and when asked the same question about his mother, he did not answer at all. Finally K. grew tired of this, for there didn’t seem to be any point in the questioning; he thought the boy was right, trying to worm family secrets out of an innocent child by roundabout ways was nothing to be proud of, particularly since they hadn’t even learned anything. When K. finally asked the boy just what kind of help he was offering, he was not surprised to hear that Hans meant only help with the work here, so that the teacher and Miss Gisa wouldn’t be so cross with K. any more. K. explained that such help wasn’t necessary, the teacher was probably naturally bad-tempered, and no one could really protect himself from that however hard he worked. As for the work itself, he said, it wasn’t really difficult, and he was behind with it today only as a result of unforeseen circumstances. Anyway, the teacher’s bad temper did not affect K. as much as it would a schoolboy, he shook it off easily, he said, he was almost indifferent to it. He also hoped to escape the teacher entirely very soon. However, he thanked Hans very much for offering his help, and said he could go back to the other classroom now, and he hoped he wouldn’t be punished.
All the same, K. did not emphasize the fact that it was only help against the teacher that he didn’t need, he only suggested as much spontaneously, leaving the question of other help open. Hans, clearly picking this hint up, asked if K. might need help of a different kind, saying that he’d be very glad to help him, and if he couldn’t do it himself he would ask his mother to, and then he was sure everything would be all right. When his father was in any difficulty he always asked his mother for help, he said. And his mother had already asked after K. once. She herself hardly left the house, she had been visiting Lasemann just that once, he said, but he, Hans, went there quite often to play with the Lasemann children. So his mother had once asked him if the land surveyor had been there again. It wasn’t a good idea to ask his mother unnecessary questions, because she was so weak and tired, so he had simply said no, he hadn’t seen the land surveyor again, and they didn’t discuss it any further. But when Hans had found K. here in the school, he’d had to speak to him so that he could tell his mother about it. What his mother liked best was to have her wishes granted without asking for that openly. In response to this K. said, after a moment’s thought, that he didn’t need help, he had all he needed, but it was very kind of Hans to want to help him, and he thanked him for his good intentions. After all, it was possible that he might need something later, and then he would turn to Hans; he knew the address. On the other hand, perhaps he, K., could offer a little help. He was sorry to hear that Hans’s mother was not well, and obviously no one here knew what the matter with her was; such a case, if neglected, can turn from a mild ailment to something much worse.
He, K., had some medical knowledge, and what was even more valuable, he had experience of treating the sick and had been known to succeed where the doctors had failed. At home, he said, he had been nicknamed ‘Bitter Rue’* because of his cures. At any rate, he would happily go to see Hans’s mother and talk to her. Perhaps he could offer good advice, he’d be glad to do that for Hans’s sake. At first Hans’s eyes lit up at this offer, which led K. to become more pressing, but the result was unsatisfactory, for in answer to various questions Hans said, and didn’t even sound as if he regretted it, that no strangers could visit his mother. She had to be spared any strain, and although K. had hardly exchanged a word with her on that one occasion, she had taken to her bed for several days after-wards. Hans had to say that such things often happened. At the time his father had been very angry with K., and he would certainly never let K. visit his mother, why, his father had wanted to go to see K. to punish him for his conduct, and only Hans’s mother had restrained him. Most important, however, his mother herself never wanted to speak to anyone in general, and her question about K. didn’t mark any exception to the rule. On the contrary, when he was mentioned she might have expressed a wish to see him, but she hadn’t, which clearly showed what she really wanted: to hear about K. but not to speak to him.
She didn’t suffer from any identifiable illness, Hans added, and sometimes she hinted that it was probably just the air here that she couldn’t tolerate, but she didn’t want to leave the village because of Hans’s father and their children, and anyway her trouble was better than it had once been. This was roughly what K. learned; Hans’s intellectual powers increased when it came to shielding his mother from K., whom he had said he would like to help. In fact with the idea of keeping K. away from his mother in view, he contradicted much of what he had said before, for instance about her ailment. All the same, K. realized that Hans was still kindly disposed to him, but in thinking of his mother he forgot everything else, anyone who wanted to see Hans’s mother was instantly in the wrong. It was K. this time, another time it could have been Hans’s father. K. thought he would broach that subject, and said it was certainly very sensible of Hans’s father to protect his wife from any kind of agitation, and if he, K., had so much as guessed at anything of the kind when he met her he certainly wouldn’t have ventured to speak to her. Now he would like to apologize, in retro-spect, to the family at their home. On the other hand he couldn’t quite understand why Hans’s father, if the cause of the trouble was as obvious as Hans said, prevented the boy’s mother from recovering in healthier air; prevented was the word for it, because it was for the sake of Hans’s father and her children that she didn’t leave the village. But she could take the children with her, she didn’t have to be away for long or go very far. Even up on Castle Mount the air must be quite different. And surely Hans’s father didn’t have to fear the expense of such a trip. After all, he was the most important shoemaker in the village, and surely either he or Hans’s mother had friends or relations at the castle who would willingly take them in. So why didn’t he let them go? He shouldn’t underestimate such an ailment, said K., who had seen her only fleetingly, but, struck by her pallor and weakness, had been moved to speak to her. Even then he had wondered at the children’s father for taking his sick wife into the musty air of the room where so many people were washing clothes and bathing, and failing to keep his loud voice down. He supposed Hans’s father didn’t know what it was really about, and of course it was true his mother had seemed better recently, such disorders come and go, but if left untreated it might return as strongly as ever, and then nothing could be done. So if he, K., couldn’t speak to the boy’s mother, perhaps it would be a good idea for him to have a word with Hans’s father and point all this out to him.
Hans had listened intently, understanding most of
