Page 254 - the-trial

man in the cassock chose to put out the candles on the main
altar, one by one. “Are you cross with me?” asked K. “Maybe
you don’t know what sort of court it is you serve.” He re-
ceived no answer. “Well, it’s just my own experience,” said
K. Above him there was still silence. “I didn’t mean to in-
sult you,” said K. At that, the priest screamed down at K.:
“Can you not see two steps in front of you?” He shouted in
anger, but it was also the scream of one who sees another
fall and, shocked and without thinking, screams against his
own will.
The two men, then, remained silent for a long time. In
the darkness beneath him, the priest could not possibly have
seen K. distinctly, although K. was able to see him clearly
by the light of the little lamp. Why did the priest not come
down? He had not given a sermon, he had only told K. a few
things which, if he followed them closely, would probably
cause him more harm than good. But the priest certainly
seemed to mean well, it might even be possible, if he would
come down and cooperate with him, it might even be pos-
sible for him to obtain some acceptable piece of advice that
could make all the difference, it might, for instance, be able
to show him not so much to influence the proceedings but
how to break free of them, how to evade them, how to live
away from them. K. had to admit that this was something
he had had on his mind quite a lot of late. If the priest knew
of such a possibility he might, if K. asked him, let him know
about it, even though he was part of the court himself and
even though, when K. had criticised the court, he had held
down his gentle nature and actually shouted at K.