Page 244 - the-trial

with two words, but as he put the receiver back in its place
he said, half to himself and half to the girl on the other end
of the line who could no longer hear him, “Yes, they’re ha-
rassing me.”
By now the time was late and there was almost a danger
he would not be on time. He took a taxi to the cathedral, at
the last moment he had remembered the album that he had
had no opportunity to give to the Italian earlier and so took
it with him now. He held it on his knees and drummed im-
patiently on it during the whole journey. The rain had eased
off slightly but it was still damp chilly and dark, it would be
difficult to see anything in the cathedral but standing about
on cold flagstones might well make K.’s chill much worse.
The square in front of the cathedral was quite empty, K. re-
membered how even as a small child he had noticed that
nearly all the houses in this narrow square had the curtains
at their windows closed most of the time, although today,
with the weather like this, it was more understandable. The
cathedral also seemed quite empty, of course no-one would
think of going there on a day like this. K. hurried along
both the side naves but saw no-one but an old woman who,
wrapped up in a warm shawl, was kneeling at a picture of
the Virgin Mary and staring up at it. Then, in the distance,
he saw a church official who limped away through a door-
way in the wall. K. had arrived on time, it had struck ten
just as he was entering the building, but the Italian still was
not there. K. went back to the main entrance, stood there
indecisively for a while, and then walked round the cathe-
dral in the rain in case the Italian was waiting at another