Page 248 - the-trial

harder for K. to follow him. Eventually, K. did stop follow-
ing, he did not want to worry the old man too much, and he
also did not want to frighten him away completely in case
the Italian turned up after all.
When he entered the central nave to go back to where
he had left the album, he noticed a small secondary pulpit
on a column almost next to the stalls by the altar where the
choir sat. It was very simple, made of plain white stone, and
so small that from a distance it looked like an empty niche
where the statue of a saint ought to have been. It certain-
ly would have been impossible for the priest to take a full
step back from the balustrade, and, although there was no
decoration on it, the top of the pulpit curved in exception-
ally low so that a man of average height would not be able
stand upright and would have to remain bent forward over
the balustrade. In all, it looked as if it had been intended to
make the priest suffer, it was impossible to understand why
this pulpit would be needed as there were also the other ones
available which were large and so artistically decorated.
And K. would certainly not have noticed this little pulpit
if there had not been a lamp fastened above it, which usu-
ally meant there was a sermon about to be given. So was a
sermon to be given now? In this empty church? K. looked
down at the steps which, pressed close against the column,
led up to the pulpit. They were so narrow they seemed to be
there as decoration on the column rather than for anyone to
use. But under the pulpit K. grinned in astonishment there
really was a priest standing with his hand on the handrail
ready to climb the steps and looking at K. Then he nodded