the pan of the scales without knowing it and be weighed along with your sins.» K. said nothing. He merely looked in amazement at this distracted being, his eyes completely still. He had gone through such changes in just the last few hours! Was it the trial that was throwing him from side to side in this way and stopped him knowing who was friend and who was foe? Could he not see the lawyer was deliberately humiliating him and had no other purpose today than to show off his power to K., and perhaps even thereby subjugate K.? But if Block was incapable of seeing that, or if he so feared the lawyer that no such insight would even be of any use to him, how was it that he was either so sly or so bold as to lie to the lawyer and conceal from him the fact that he had other lawyers working on his behalf? And how did he dare to attack K., who could betray his secret any time he liked? But he dared even more than this, he went to the lawyer’s bed and began there to make complaints about K. «Dr. Huld, sir,» he said, «did you hear the way this man spoke to me? You can count the length of his trial in hours, and he wants to tell me what to do when I’ve been involved in a legal case for five years. He even insults me. He doesn’t know anything, but he insults me, when I, as far as my weak ability allows, when I’ve made a close study of how to behave with the court, what we ought to do and what the court practices are.» «Don’t let anyone bother you,» said the lawyer, «and do what seems to you to be right.» «I will,» said Block, as if speaking to himself to give himself courage, and with a quick glance to the side he knelt down close beside the bed. «I’m kneeling now, Dr. Huld, sir,» he said. But the lawyer remained silent. With one hand, Block carefully stroked the bed cover. In the silence while he did so, Leni, as she freed herself from K.’s hands, said, «You’re hurting me. Let go of me. I’m going over to Block.» She went over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. Block was very pleased at this and with lively, but silent, gestures he immediately urged her to intercede for him with the lawyer. It was clear that he desperately needed to be told something by the lawyer, although perhaps only so that he could make use of the information with his other lawyers. Leni probably knew very well how the lawyer could be brought round, pointed to his hand and pursed her lips as if making a kiss. Block immediately performed the hand-kiss and, at further urging from Leni, repeated it twice more. But the lawyer continued to be silent. Then Leni leant over the lawyer, as she stretched out, the attractive shape of her body could be seen, and, bent over close to his face, she stroked his long white hair. That now forced him to give an answer. «I’m rather wary of telling him,» said the lawyer, and his head could be seen shaking slightly, perhaps so that he would feel the pressure of Leni’s hand better. Block listened closely with his head lowered, as if by listening he were breaking an order. «What makes you so wary about it?» asked Leni. K. had the feeling he was listening to a contrived dialogue that had been repeated many times, that would be repeated many times more, and that for Block alone it would never lose its freshness. «What has his behaviour been like today?» asked the lawyer instead of an answer. Before Leni said anything she looked down at Block and watched him a short while as he raised his hands towards her and rubbed them together imploringly. Finally she gave a serious nod, turned back to the lawyer and said, «He’s been quiet and industrious.» This was an elderly businessman, a man whose beard was long, and he was begging a young girl to speak on his behalf. Even if there was some plan behind what he did, there was nothing that could reinstate him in the eyes of his fellow man. K. could not understand how the lawyer could have thought this performance would win him over. Even if he had done nothing earlier to make him want to leave then this scene would have done so. It was almost humiliating even for the onlooker. So these were the lawyer’s methods, which K. fortunately had not been exposed to for long, to let the client forget about the whole world and leave him with nothing but the hope of reaching the end of his trial by this deluded means. He was no longer a client, he was the lawyer’s dog. If the lawyer had ordered him to crawl under the bed as if it were a kennel and to bark out from under it, then he would have done so with enthusiasm. K. listened to all of this, testing it and thinking it over as if he had been given the task of closely observing everything spoken here, inform a higher office about it and write a report. «And what has he been doing all day?» asked the lawyer. «I kept him locked in the maid’s room all day,» said Leni, «so that he wouldn’t stop me doing my work. That’s where he usually stays. From time to time I looked in through the spyhole to see what he was doing, and each time he was kneeling on the bed and reading the papers you gave him, propped up on the window sill. That made a good impression on me; as the window only opens onto an air shaft and gives hardly any light. It showed how obedient he is that he was even reading in those conditions.» «I’m pleased to hear it,» said the lawyer. «But did he understand what he was reading?» While this conversation was going on, Block continually moved his lips and was clearly formulating the answers he hoped Leni would give. «Well I can’t give you any certain answer to that of course,» said Leni, «but I could see that he was reading thoroughly. He spent all day reading the same page, running his finger along the lines. Whenever I looked in on him he sighed as if this reading was a lot of work for him. I expect the papers you gave him were very hard to understand.» «Yes,» said the lawyer, «they certainly are that. And I really don’t think he understood anything of them. But they should at least give him some inkling of just how hard a struggle it is and how much work it is for me to defend him. And who am I doing all this hard work for? I’m doing it—it’s laughable even to say it—I’m doing it for Block. He ought to realise what that means, too. Did he study without a pause?» «Almost without a pause,» answered Leni. «Just the once he asked me for a drink of water, so I gave him a glassful through the window. Then at eight o’clock I let him out and gave him something to eat.» Block glanced sideways at K., as if he were being praised and had to impress K. as well. He now seemed more optimistic, he moved more freely and rocked back and forth on his knees. This made his astonishment all the more obvious when he heard the following words from the lawyer: «You speak well of him,» said the lawyer, «but that’s just what makes it difficult for me. You see, the judge did not speak well of him at all, neither about Block nor about his case.» «Didn’t speak well of him?» asked Leni. «How is that possible?» Block looked at her with such tension he seemed to think that although the judge’s words had been spoken so long before she would be able to change them in his favour. «Not at all,» said the lawyer. «In fact he became quite cross when I started to talk about Block to him. ‘Don’t talk to me about Block,’ he said. ‘He is my client,’ said I. ‘You’re letting him abuse you,’ he said. ‘I don’t think his case is lost yet,’ said I. ‘You’re letting him abuse you,’ he repeated. ‘I don’t think so,’ said I. ‘Block works hard in his case and always knows where it stands. He practically lives with me so that he always knows what’s happening. You don’t always find such enthusiasm as that. He’s not very pleasant personally, I grant you, his manners are terrible and he’s dirty, but as far as the trial’s concerned he’s quite immaculate.’ I said immaculate, but I was deliberately exaggerating. Then he said, ‘Block is sly, that’s all. He’s accumulated plenty of experience and knows how to delay proceedings. But there’s more that he doesn’t know than he does. What do you think he’d say if he learned his trial still hasn’t begun, if you told him they haven’t even rung the bell to announce the start of proceedings?’ Alright Block, alright,» said the lawyer, as at these words Block had begun to raise himself on his trembling knees and clearly wanted to plead for some explanation. It was the first time the lawyer had spoken any clear words directly to Block. He looked