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should have gone, you should have left as quickly as pos-
sible as soon as I got here.” This comment could have caused
all possible rage to break out between them, but K. also bore
in mind that this was a prospective court official speaking
to a disfavoured defendant, and he might well have been
taking pride in speaking in this way. K. remained standing
quite close to him and said with a smile, “You’re quite right,
I am impatient, but the easiest way to settle this impatience
would be if you left us. On the other hand, if you’ve come
here to study you are a student, I hear I’ll be quite happy
to leave the room to you and go away with the woman. I’m
sure you’ll still have a lot of study to do before you’re made
into a judge. It’s true that I’m still not all that familiar with
your branch of jurisprudence but I take it it involves a lot
more than speaking roughly and I see you have no shame in
doing that extremely well.” “He shouldn’t have been allowed
to move about so freely,” said the student, as if he wanted to
give the woman an explanation for K.’s insults, “that was a
mistake. I’ve told the examining judge so. He should at least
have been detained in his room between hearings. Some-
times it’s impossible to understand what the judge thinks
he’s doing.” “You’re wasting your breath,” said K., then he
reached his hand out towards the woman and said, “come
with me.” “So that’s it,” said the student, “oh no, you’re not
going to get her,” and with a strength you would not have
expected from him, he glanced tenderly at her, lifted her up
on one arm and, his back bent under the weight, ran with
her to the door. In this way he showed, unmistakeably, that
he was to some extent afraid of K., but he nonetheless dared