Page 220 - the-trial

drawing a chair up to the bedside table and sitting down. “It
seemed to me that you locked the door,” said the lawyer.
“Yes,” said K., “it was because of Leni.” He had no intention
of letting anyone off lightly. But the lawyer asked him, “Was
she being importunate again?” “Importunate?” asked K.
“Yes,” said the lawyer, laughing as he did so, had a fit of
coughing and then, once it had passed, began to laugh
again. “I’m sure you must have noticed how importunate
she can be sometimes,” he said, and patted K.’s hand which
K. had rested on the bedside table and which he now
snatched back. “You don’t attach much importance to it,
then,” said the lawyer when K. was silent, “so much the bet-
ter. Otherwise I might have needed to apologise to you. It is
a peculiarity of Leni’s. I’ve long since forgiven her for it, and
I wouldn’t be talking of it now, if you hadn’t locked the door
just now. Anyway, perhaps I should at least explain this pe-
culiarity of hers to you, but you seem rather disturbed, the
way you’re looking at me, and so that’s why I’ll do it, this
peculiarity of hers consists in this; Leni finds most of the ac-
cused attractive. She attaches herself to each of them, loves
each of them, even seems to be loved by each of them; then
she sometimes entertains me by telling me about them
when I allow her to. I am not so astonished by all of this as
you seem to be. If you look at them in the right way the ac-
cused really can be attractive, quite often. But that is a
remarkable and to some extent scientific phenomenon. Be-
ing indicted does not cause any clear, precisely definable
change in a person’s appearance, of course. But it’s not like
with other legal matters, most of them remain in their usu-

1