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maculate, but I was deliberately exaggerating. Then he said,
‘Block is sly, that’s all. He’s accumulated plenty of experi-
ence and knows how to delay proceedings. But there’s more
that he doesn’t know than he does. What do you think he’d
say if he learned his trial still hasn’t begun, if you told him
they haven’t even rung the bell to announce the start of pro-
ceedings?’ Alright Block, alright,” said the lawyer, as at
these words Block had begun to raise himself on his trem-
bling knees and clearly wanted to plead for some explanation.
It was the first time the lawyer had spoken any clear words
directly to Block. He looked down with his tired eyes, half
blankly and half at Block, who slowly sank back down on
his knees under this gaze. “What the judge said has no
meaning for you,” said the lawyer. “You needn’t be fright-
ened at every word. If you do it again I won’t tell you
anything else at all. It’s impossible to start a sentence with-
out you looking at me as if you were receiving your final
judgement. You should be ashamed of yourself here in front
of my client! And you’re destroying the trust he has for me.
Just what is it you want? You’re still alive, you’re still under
my protection. There’s no point in worrying! Somewhere
you’ve read that the final judgement can often come without
warning, from anyone at any time. And, in the right cir-
cumstances, that’s basically true, but it’s also true that I
dislike your anxiety and fear and see that you don’t have the
trust in me you should have. Now what have I just said? I
repeated something said by one of the judges. You know
that there are so many various opinions about the proce-
dure that they form into a great big pile and nobody can

The Trial