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and nor would she be capable of sacrificing herself for me.
But I’ve never yet asked any of those things of her. I’ve never
looked at this picture as closely as you.” “You can’t think
much of her, then,” said Leni. “She can’t be your lover after
all.” “Yes she is,” said K., “I’m not going to take my word
back on that.” “Well she might be your lover now, then,”
said Leni, “but you wouldn’t miss her much if you lost her or
if you exchanged her for somebody else, me for instance.”
“That is certainly conceivable,” said K. with a smile, “but
she does have one major advantage over you, she knows
nothing about my trial, and even if she did she wouldn’t
think about it. She wouldn’t try to persuade me to be les un-
yielding.” “Well that’s no advantage,” said Leni. “If she’s got
no advantage other than that, I can keep on hoping. Has she
got any bodily defects?” “‘Bodily defects’?” asked K. “Yeah,”
said Leni, “as I do have a bodily defect, just a little one.
Look.” She spread the middle and ring fingers of her right
hand apart from each other. Between those fingers the flap
of skin connecting them reached up almost as far as the top
joint of the little finger. In the darkness, K. did not see at
first what it was she wanted to show him, so she led his hand
to it so that he could feel. “What a freak of nature,” said K.,
and when he had taken a look at the whole hand he added,
“What a pretty claw!” Leni looked on with a kind of pride as
K. repeatedly opened and closed her two fingers in amaze-
ment, until, finally, he briefly kissed them and let go. “Oh!”
she immediately exclaimed, “you kissed me!” Hurriedly,
and with her mouth open, she clambered up K.’s lap with
her knees. He was almost aghast as he looked up at her, now

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