Page 58 - the-trial

a hand from somewhere he did not have the time to turn
round took hold of his collar. K., by this time, had forgotten
about the pair, it seemed to him that his freedom was being
limited as if his arrest was being taken seriously, and, with-
out any thought for what he was doing, he jumped down
from the podium. Now he stood face to face with the crowd.
Had he judged the people properly? Had he put too much
faith in the effect of his speech? Had they been putting up
a pretence all the time he had been speaking, and now that
he come to the end and to what must follow, were they tired
of pretending? What faces they were, all around him! Dark,
little eyes flickered here and there, cheeks drooped down
like on drunken men, their long beards were thin and stiff,
if they took hold of them it was more like they were mak-
ing their hands into claws, not as if they were taking hold
of their own beards. But underneath those beards and this
was the real discovery made by K. there were badges of vari-
ous sizes and colours shining on the collars of their coats.
As far as he could see, every one of them was wearing one
of these badges. All of them belonged to the same group,
even though they seemed to be divided to the right and
the left of him, and when he suddenly turned round he saw
the same badge on the collar of the examining judge who
calmly looked down at him with his hands in his lap. “So,”
called out K, throwing his arms in the air as if this sudden
realisation needed more room, “all of you are working for
this organisation, I see now that you are all the very bunch
of cheats and liars I’ve just been speaking about, you’ve all
pressed yourselves in here in order to listen in and snoop