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should enter or not. He raised his eyebrows and lowered his
head as if listening to find out whether the order to attend
the lawyer would be repeated. K. could have encouraged to
enter, but he had decided to make a final break not only
with the lawyer but with everything in his home, so he kept
himself motionless. Leni was also silent. Block noticed that
at least no-one was chasing him away, and, on tiptoe, he en-
tered the room, his face was tense, his hands were clenched
behind his back. He left the door open in case he needed to
go back again. K. did not even glance at him, he looked in-
stead only at the thick quilt under which the lawyer could
not be seen as he had squeezed up very close to the wall.
Then his voice was heard: “Block here?” he asked. Block had
already crept some way into the room but this question
seemed to give him first a shove in the breast and then an-
other in the back, he seemed about to fall but remained
standing, deeply bowed, and said, “At your service, sir.”
“What do you want?” asked the lawyer, “you’ve come at a
bad time.” “Wasn’t I summoned?” asked Block, more to
himself than the lawyer. He held his hands in front of him-
self as protection and would have been ready to run away
any moment. “You were summoned,” said the lawyer, “but
you have still come at a bad time.” Then, after a pause he
added, “You always come at a bad time.” When the lawyer
started speaking Block had stopped looking at the bed but
stared rather into one of the corners, just listening, as if the
light from the speaker were brighter than Block could bear
to look at. But it was also difficult for him to listen, as the
lawyer was speaking into the wall and speaking quickly and