Page 104 - the-trial

you had a senior judge here beneath your stick,” said K.,
pressing down the cane as he spoke to stop it being raised
once more, “I really would do nothing to stop you, on the
contrary, I would even pay you money to give you all the
more strength.” “Yeah, that’s all very plausible, what you’re
saying there,” said the whip-man , “only I’m not the sort of
person you can bribe. It’s my job to flog people, so I flog
them.” Franz, the policeman, had been fairly quiet so far,
probably in expectation of a good result from K.’s interven-
tion, but now he stepped forward to the door wearing just
his trousers, kneeled down hanging on to K.’s arm and
whispered, “Even if you can’t get mercy shown for both of
us, at least try and get me set free. Willem is older than me,
he’s less sensitive than me in every way, he even got a light
beating a couple of years ago, but my record’s still clean, I
only did things the way I did because Willem led me on to
it, he’s been my teacher both for good and bad. Down in
front of the bank my poor bride is waiting for me at the en-
trance, I’m so ashamed of myself, it’s pitiful.” His face was
flowing over with tears, and he wiped it dry on K.’s coat.
“I’m not going to wait any longer,” said the whip-man, tak-
ing hold of the cane in both hands and laying in to Franz
while Willem cowered back in a corner and looked on se-
cretly, not even daring to turn his head. Then, the sudden
scream that shot out from Franz was long and irrevocable,
it seemed to come not from a human being but from an in-
strument that was being tortured, the whole corridor rang
with it, it must have been heard by everyone in the building.
“Don’t shout like that!”, called out K., unable to prevent

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