K. watched her as she went; the decision had finally been made that the lawyer was to be dismissed, it was probably better that he had not been able to discuss the matter any more with Leni beforehand; she hardly understood the complexity of the matter, she would certainly have advised him against it and perhaps would even have prevented him from dismissing the lawyer this time, he would have remained in doubt and unease and eventually have carried out his decision after a while anyway as this decision was something he could not avoid. The sooner it was carried out the more harm would be avoided. And moreover, perhaps the businessman had something to say on the matter.
K. turned round, the businessman hardly noticed it as he was about to stand up. «Stay where you are,» said K. and pulled up a chair beside him. «Have you been a client of the lawyer’s for a long time?» asked K. «Yes,» said the businessman, «a very long time.» «How many years has he been representing you so far, then?» asked K. «I don’t know how you mean,» said the businessman, «he’s been my business lawyer—I buy and sell cereals—he’s been my business lawyer since I took the business over, and that’s about twenty years now, but perhaps you mean my own trial and he’s been representing me in that since it started, and that’s been more than five years. Yes, well over five years,» he then added, pulling out an old briefcase, «I’ve got everything written down; I can tell you the exact dates if you like. It’s so hard to remember everything. Probably, my trial’s been going on much longer than that, it started soon after the death of my wife, and that’s been more than five and a half years now.» K. moved in closer to him. «So the lawyer takes on ordinary legal business, does he?» he asked. This combination of criminal and commercial business seemed surprisingly reassuring for K. «Oh yes,» said the businessman, and then he whispered, «They even say he’s more efficient in jurisprudence than he is in other matters.» But then he seemed to regret saying this, and he laid a hand on K.’s shoulder and said, «Please don’t betray me to him, will you.» K. patted his thigh to reassure him and said, «No, I don’t betray people.» «He can be so vindictive, you see,» said the businessman. «I’m sure he won’t do anything against such a faithful client as you,» said K. «Oh, he might do,» said the businessman, «when he gets cross it doesn’t matter who it is, and anyway, I’m not really faithful to him.» «How’s that then?» asked K. «I’m not sure I should tell you about it,» said the businessman hesitantly. «I think it’ll be alright,» said K. «Well then,» said the businessman, «I’ll tell you about some of it, but you’ll have to tell me a secret too, then we can support each other with the lawyer.» «You are very careful,» said K., «but I’ll tell you a secret that will set your mind completely at ease. Now tell me, in what way have you been unfaithful to the lawyer?» «I’ve …» said the businessman hesitantly, and in a tone as if he were confessing something dishonourable, «I’ve taken on other lawyers besides him.» «That’s not so serious,» said K., a little disappointed. «It is, here,» said the businessman, who had had some difficulty breathing since making his confession but who now, after hearing K.’s comment, began to feel more trust for him. «That’s not allowed. And it’s allowed least of all to take on petty lawyers when you’ve already got a proper one. And that’s just what I have done, besides him I’ve got five petty lawyers.» «Five!» exclaimed K., astonished at this number, «Five lawyers besides this one?» The businessman nodded. «I’m even negotiating with a sixth one.» «But why do you need so many lawyers?» asked K. «I need all of them,» said the businessman. «Would you mind explaining that to me?» asked K. «I’d be glad to,» said the businessman. «Most of all, I don’t want to lose my case, well that’s obvious. So that means I mustn’t neglect anything that might be of use to me; even if there’s very little hope of a particular thing being of any use I can’t just throw it away. So everything I have I’ve put to use in my case. I’ve taken all the money out of my business, for example, the offices for my business used to occupy nearly a whole floor, but now all I need is a little room at the back where I work with one apprentice. It wasn’t just using up the money that caused the difficulty, of course, it was much more to do with me not working at the business as much as I used to. If you want to do something about your trial you don’t have much time for anything else.» «So you’re also working at the court yourself?» asked K. «That’s just what I want to learn more about.» «I can’t tell you very much about that,» said the businessman, «at first I tried to do that too but I soon had to give it up again. It wears you out too much, and it’s really not much use. And it turned out to be quite impossible to work there yourself and to negotiate, at least for me it was. It’s a heavy strain there just sitting and waiting. You know yourself what the air is like in those offices.» «How do you know I’ve been there, then?» asked K. «I was in the waiting room myself when you went through.» «What a coincidence that is!» exclaimed K., totally engrossed and forgetting how ridiculous the businessman had seemed to him earlier. «So you saw me! You were in the waiting room when I went through. Yes, I did go through it one time.» «It isn’t such a big coincidence,» said the businessman, «I’m there nearly every day.» «I expect I’ll have to go there quite often myself now,» said K., «although I can hardly expect to be shown the same respect as I was then. They all stood up for me. They must have thought I was a judge.» «No,» said the businessman, «we were greeting the servant of the court. We knew you were a defendant. That sort of news spreads very quickly.» «So you already knew about that,» said K., «the way I behaved must have seemed very arrogant to you. Did you criticise me for it afterwards?» «No,» said the businessman, «quite the opposite. That was just stupidity.» «What do you mean, ‘stupidity’?» asked K. «Why are you asking about it?» said the businessman in some irritation. «You still don’t seem to know the people there and you might take it wrong. Don’t forget in proceedings like this there are always lots of different things coming up to talk about, things that you just can’t understand with reason alone, you just get too tired and distracted for most things and so, instead, people rely on superstition. I’m talking about the others, but I’m no better myself. One of these superstitions, for example, is that you can learn a lot about the outcome of a defendant’s case by looking at his face, especially the shape of his lips. There are lots who believe that, and they said they could see from the shape of your lips that you’d definitely be found guilty very soon. I repeat that all this is just a ridiculous superstition, and in most cases it’s completely disproved by the facts, but when you live in that society it’s hard to hold yourself back from beliefs like that. Just think how much effect that superstition can have. You spoke to one of them there, didn’t you? He was hardly able to give you an answer. There are lots of things there that can make you confused, of course, but one of them, for him, was the appearance of your lips. He told us all later he thought he could see something in your lips that meant he’d be convicted himself.» «On my lips?» asked K., pulling out a pocket mirror and examining himself. «I can see nothing special about my lips. Can you?» «Nor can I,» said the businessman, «nothing at all.» «These people are so superstitious!» exclaimed K. «Isn’t that what I just told you?» asked the businessman. «Do you then have that much contact with each other, exchanging each other’s opinions?» said K. «I’ve kept myself completely apart so far.» «They don’t normally have much contact with each other,» said the businessman, «that would be impossible, there are so many of them. And they don’t have much in common either. If a group of them ever thinks they have found something in common it soon turns out they were mistaken. There’s nothing you can do as a group where the court’s concerned. Each case is examined separately, the court is very painstaking. So there’s nothing
