Page 246 - the-trial

the altar picture by the light of his torch. The eternal light
hung disturbingly in front of it. The first thing that K. partly
saw and partly guessed at was a large knight in armour who
was shown at the far edge of the painting. He was leaning
on his sword that he had stuck into the naked ground in
front of him where only a few blades of grass grew here and
there. He seemed to be paying close attention to something
that was being played out in front of him. It was astonishing
to see how he stood there without going any closer. Perhaps
it was his job to stand guard. It was a long time since K. had
looked at any pictures and he studied the knight for a long
time even though he had continually to blink as he found it
difficult to bear the green light of his torch. Then when he
moved the light to the other parts of the picture he found
an interment of Christ shown in the usual way, it was also
a comparatively new painting. He put his torch away and
went back to his place.
There seemed to be no point in waiting for the Italian
any longer, but outside it was certainly raining heavily, and
as it was not so cold in the cathedral as K. had expected
he decided to stay there for the time being. Close by him
was the great pulpit, there were two plain golden crosses at-
tached to its little round roof which were lying almost flat
and whose tips crossed over each other. The outside of the
pulpit’s balustrade was covered in green foliage which con-
tinued down to the column supporting it, little angels could
be seen among the leaves, some of them lively and some of
them still. K. walked up to the pulpit and examined it from
all sides, its stonework had been sculpted with great care,