approached with reasoned proofs, you later restricted this to the open court, and now you go so far as to say that an innocent man needs no assistance in court. That entails a contradiction. Moreover, you said earlier that the judges can be influenced personally but now you insist that an absolute acquittal, as you call it, can never be attained through personal influence. That entails a second contradiction.» «It’s quite easy to clear up these contradictions,» said the painter. «We’re talking about two different things here, there’s what it says in the law and there’s what I know from my own experience, you shouldn’t get the two confused. I’ve never seen it in writing, but the law does, of course, say on the one hand that the innocent will be set free, but on the other hand it doesn’t say that the judges can be influenced. But in my experience it’s the other way round. I don’t know of any absolute acquittals but I do know of many times when a judge has been influenced. It’s possible, of course, that there was no innocence in any of the cases I know about. But is that likely? Not a single innocent defendant in so many cases? When I was a boy I used to listen closely to my father when he told us about court cases at home, and the judges that came to his studio talked about the court, in our circles nobody talks about anything else; I hardly ever got the chance to go to court myself but always made use of it when I could, I’ve listened to countless trials at important stages in their development, I’ve followed them closely as far as they could be followed, and I have to say that I’ve never seen a single acquittal.» «So. Not a single acquittal,» said K., as if talking to himself and his hopes. «That confirms the impression I already have of the court. So there’s no point in it from this side either. They could replace the whole court with a single hangman.» «You shouldn’t generalise,» said the painter, dissatisfied, «I’ve only been talking about my own experience.» «Well that’s enough,» said K., «or have you heard of any acquittals that happened earlier?» «They say there have been some acquittals earlier,» the painter answered, «but it’s very hard to be sure about it. The courts don’t make their final conclusions public, not even the judges are allowed to know about them, so that all we know about these earlier cases are just legends. But most of them did involve absolute acquittals, you can believe that, but they can’t be proved. On the other hand, you shouldn’t forget all about them either, I’m sure there is some truth to them, and they are very beautiful, I’ve painted a few pictures myself depicting these legends.» «My assessment will not be altered by mere legends,» said K. «I don’t suppose it’s possible to cite these legends in court, is it?» The painter laughed. «No, you can’t cite them in court,» he said. «Then there’s no point in talking about them,» said K., he wanted, for the time being, to accept anything the painter told him, even if he thought it unlikely or contradicted what he had been told by others. He did not now have the time to examine the truth of everything the painter said or even to disprove it, he would have achieved as much as he could if the painter would help him in any way even if his help would not be decisive. As a result, he said, «So let’s pay no more attention to absolute acquittal, but you mentioned two other possibilities.» «Apparent acquittal and deferment. They’re the only possibilities,» said the painter. «But before we talk about them, would you not like to take your coat off? You must be hot.» «Yes,» said K., who until then had paid attention to nothing but the painter’s explanations, but now that he had had the heat pointed out to him his brow began to sweat heavily. «It’s almost unbearable.» The painter nodded as if he understood K.’s discomfort very well. «Could we not open the window?» asked K. «No,» said the painter. «It’s only a fixed pane of glass, it can’t be opened.» K. now realised that all this time he had been hoping the painter would suddenly go over to the window and pull it open. He had prepared himself even for the fog that he would breathe in through his open mouth. The thought that here he was entirely cut off from the air made him feel dizzy. He tapped lightly on the bedspread beside him and, with a weak voice, said, «That is very inconvenient and unhealthy.» «Oh no,» said the painter in defence of his window, «as it can’t be opened this room retains the heat better than if the window were double glazed, even though it’s only a single pane. There’s not much need to air the room as there’s so much ventilation through the gaps in the wood, but when I do want to I can open one of my doors, or even both of them.» K. was slightly consoled by this explanation and looked around to see where the second door was. The painter saw him do so and said, «It’s behind you, I had to hide it behind the bed.» Only then was K. able to see the little door in the wall. «It’s really much too small for a studio here,» said the painter, as if he wanted to anticipate an objection K. would make. «I had to arrange things as well as I could. That’s obviously a very bad place for the bed, in front of the door. For instance when the judge I’m painting at present comes he always comes through the door by the bed, and I’ve even given him a key to this door so that he can wait for me here in the studio when I’m not home. Although nowadays he usually comes early in the morning when I’m still asleep. And of course, it always wakes me up when I hear the door opened beside the bed, however fast asleep I am. If you could hear the way I curse him as he climbs over my bed in the morning you’d lose all respect for judges. I suppose I could take the key away from him but that’d only make things worse. It only takes a tiny effort to break any of the doors here off their hinges.» All the time the painter was speaking, K. was considering whether he should take off his coat, but he finally realised that, if he didn’t do so, he would be quite unable to stay here any longer, so he took off his frock coat and lay it on his knee so that he could put it back on again as soon as the conversation was over. He had hardly done this when one of the girls called out, «Now he’s taken his coat off!» and they could all be heard pressing around the gaps in the planks to see the spectacle for themselves. «The girls think I’m going to paint your portrait,» said the painter, «and that’s why you’re taking your coat off.» «I see,» said K., only slightly amused by this, as he felt little better than he had before even though he now sat in his shirtsleeves. With some irritation he asked, «What did you say the two other possibilities were?» He had already forgotten the terms used. «Apparent acquittal and deferment,» said the painter. «It’s up to you which one you choose. You can get either of them if I help you, but it’ll take some effort of course, the difference between them is that apparent acquittal needs concentrated effort for a while and that deferment takes much less effort but it has to be sustained. Now then, apparent acquittal. If that’s what you want I’ll write down an assertion of your innocence on a piece of paper. The text for an assertion of this sort was passed down to me from my father and it’s quite unassailable. I take this assertion round to the judges I know. So I’ll start off with the one I’m currently painting, and put the assertion to him when he comes for his sitting this evening. I’ll lay the assertion in front of him, explain that you’re innocent and give him my personal guarantee of it. And that’s not just a superficial guarantee, it’s a real one and it’s binding.» The painter’s eyes seemed to show some reproach of K. for wanting to impose that sort of responsibility on him. «That would be very kind of you,» said K. «And would the judge then believe you and nonetheless not pass an absolute acquittal?» «It’s like I just said,» answered the painter. «And anyway, it’s not entirely sure that all the judges would believe me, many of them, for instance, might want me to bring you to see them personally. So then you’d have to come along too. But at least then, if that happens, the matter is half way won, especially as I’d teach you in advance exactly how you’d need to act with the judge concerned, of course. What also happens, though, is that there are some judges who’ll turn me down in advance, and that’s worse. I’ll certainly make several attempts, but still, we’ll have to forget about them, but at least we can afford to do that as no one