The Trial by Franz Kafka (best chinese ebook reader TXT) đ
- Author: Franz Kafka
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and slowly stroking her hip with the other. âThatâs too vague,â said Miss BĂŒrstner. âWhatâs too vague?â asked K. Then he remembered himself and asked, âWould you like me to show you what it was like?â He wanted to move in some way but did not want to leave. âIâm already tired,â
said Miss BĂŒrstner. âYou arrived back so late,â said K. âNow youâve started telling me off. Well I suppose I deserve it as I shouldnât have let you in here in the first place, and it turns out there wasnât even any point.â âOh, there was a point, youâll see now how important a point it was,â said K. âMay I move this table away from your bedside and put it here?â âWhat do you think youâre doing?â said Miss BĂŒrstner.
âOf course you canât!â âIn that case I canât show you,â said K., quite upset, as if Miss BĂŒrstner had committed some incomprehensible offence against him. âAlright then, if you need it to show what you mean, just take the bedside table then,â said Miss BĂŒrstner, and after a short pause added in a weak voice, âIâm so tired Iâm allowing more than I ought to.â K. put the little table in the middle of the room and sat down behind it. âYou have to get a proper idea of where the people were situated, it is very interesting. Iâm the supervisor, sitting over there on the chest are two policemen, standing next to the photographs there are three young people. Hanging on the handle of the window is a white blouse - I just mention that by the way. And now it begins. Ah yes, Iâm forgetting myself, the most important person of all, so Iâm standing here in front of the table. the supervisor is sitting extremely comfortably with his legs crossed and his arm hanging over the backrest here like some layabout. And now it really does begin. the supervisor calls out as if he had to wake me up, in fact he shouts at me, Iâm afraid, if Iâm to make it clear to you, Iâll have to shout as well, and itâs nothing more than my name that he shouts out.â Miss BĂŒrstner, laughing as she listened to him, laid her forefinger on her mouth so that K. would not shout, but it was too late. K. was too engrossed in his role and slowly called out, âJosef K.!â. It was not as loud as he had threatened, but nonetheless, once he had suddenly called it out, the cry seemed gradually to spread itself all round the room.
There was a series of loud, curt and regular knocks at the door of the adjoining room. Miss BĂŒrstner went pale and laid her hand on her heart. K. was especially startled, as for a moment he had been quite unable to think of anything other than the events of that morning and the girl for whom he was performing them. He had hardly pulled himself together when he jumped over to Miss BĂŒrstner and took her hand. âDonât be afraid,â he whispered, âIâll put everything right. But who can it be? Itâs only the living room next door, nobody sleeps in there.â âYes they do,â whispered Miss BĂŒrstner into K.âs ear, âa nephew of Mrs.
Grubachâs, an captain in the army, has been sleeping there since yesterday. Thereâs no other room free. Iâd forgotten about it too.
Why did you have to shout like that? Youâve made me quite upset.â
âThere is no reason for it,â said K., and, now as she sank back onto the cushion, kissed her forehead. âGo away, go away,â she said, hurriedly sitting back up, âget out of here, go, what is it you want, heâs listening at the door he can hear everything. Youâre causing me so much trouble!â âI wonât go,â said K., âuntil youâve calmed down a bit. Come over into the other corner of the room, he wonât be able to hear us there.â She let him lead her there. âDonât forget,â he said, âalthough this might be unpleasant for you youâre not in any real danger. You know how much esteem Mrs. Grubach has for me, sheâs the one who will make all the decisions in this, especially as the captain is her nephew, but she believes everything I say without question. Whatâs more, she has borrowed a large sum of money from me and that makes her dependent on me. I will confirm whatever you say to explain our being here together, however inappropriate it might be, and I guarantee to make sure that Mrs. Grubach will not only say she believes the explanation in public but will believe it truly and sincerely. You will have no need to consider me in any way. If you wish to let it be known that I have attacked you then Mrs. Grubach will be informed of such and she will believe it without even losing her trust in me, thatâs how much respect she has for me.â Miss BĂŒrstner looked at the floor in front of her, quiet and a little sunk in on herself. âWhy would Mrs. Grubach not believe that Iâve attacked you?â added K. He looked at her hair in front of him, parted, bunched down, reddish and firmly held in place. He thought she would look up at him, but without changing her manner she said, âForgive me, but it was the suddenness of the knocking that startled me so much, not so much what the consequences of the captain being here might be. It was all so quiet after youâd shouted, and then there was the knocking, thatâs was made me so shocked, and I was sitting right by the door, the knocking was right next to me. Thank you for your suggestions, but I wonât accept them. I can bear the responsibility for anything that happens in my room myself, and I can do so with anyone. Iâm surprised you donât realise just how insulting your suggestions are and what they imply about me, although I certainly acknowledge your good intentions. But now, please go, leave me alone, I need you to go now even more than I did earlier. The couple of minutes you asked for have grown into half an hour, more than half an hour now.â
K. took hold of her hand, and then of her wrist, âYouâre not cross with me, though?â he said. She pulled her hand away and answered, âNo, no, Iâm never cross with anyone.â He grasped her wrist once more, she tolerated it now and, in that way, lead him to the door. He had fully intended to leave. But when he reached the door he came to a halt as if he hadnât expected to find a door there, Miss BĂŒrstner made use of that moment to get herself free, open the door, slip out into the hallway and gently say to K. from there, âNow, come along, please. Look,â she pointed to the captainâs door, from under which there was a light shining, âheâs put a light on and heâs laughing at us.â âAlright, Iâm coming,â said K., moved forward, took hold of her, kissed her on the mouth and then over her whole face like a thirsty animal lapping with its tongue when it eventually finds water. He finally kissed her on her neck and her throat and left his lips pressed there for a long time. He did not look up until there was a noise from the captainâs room. âIâll go now,â he said, he wanted to address Miss BĂŒrstner by her Christian name, but did not know it. She gave him a tired nod, offered him her hand to kiss as she turned away as if she did not know what she was doing, and went back into her room with her head bowed. A short while later, K. was lying in his bed. He very soon went to sleep, but before he did he thought a little while about his behaviour, he was satisfied with it but felt some surprise that he was not more satisfied; he was seriously worried about Miss BĂŒrstner because of the captain.
K. was informed by telephone that there would be a small hearing concerning his case the following Sunday. He was made aware that these cross examinations would follow one another regularly, perhaps not every week but quite frequently. On the one hand it was in everyoneâs interest to bring proceedings quickly to their conclusion, but on the other hand every aspect of the examinations had to be carried out thoroughly without lasting too long because of the associated stress. For these reasons, it had been decided to hold a series of brief examinations following on one after another. Sunday had been chosen as the day for the hearings so that K. would not be disturbed in his professional work.
It was assumed that he would be in agreement with this, but if he wished for another date then, as far as possible, he would be accommodated.
Cross-examinations could even be held in the night, for instance, but K.
would probably not be fresh enough at that time. Anyway, as long as K.
made no objection, the hearing would be left on Sundays. It was a matter of course that he would have to appear without fail, there was probably no need to point this out to him. He would be given the number of the building where he was to present himself, which was in a street in a suburb well away from the city centre which K. had never been to before.
Once he had received this notice, K. hung up the receiver without giving an answer; he had decided immediately to go there that Sunday, it was certainly necessary, proceedings had begun and he had to face up to it, and this first examination would probably also be the last. He was still standing in thought by the telephone when he heard the voice of the deputy director behind him - he wanted to use the telephone but K.
stood in his way. âBad news?â asked the deputy director casually, not in order to find anything out but just to get K. away from the device.
âNo, no, â said K., he stepped to one side but did not go away entirely.
The deputy director picked up the receiver and, as he waited for his connection, turned away from it and said to K., âOne question, Mr. K.: Would you like to give me the pleasure of joining me on my sailing boat on Sunday morning? Thereâs quite a few people coming, youâre bound to know some of them. One of them is Hasterer, the state attorney. Would you like to come along? Do come along!â K. tried to pay attention to what the deputy director was saying. It was of no small importance
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