"Well look at you two sat huddled together!" called Leni as she came
back with the dish and stood in the doorway. They were indeed sat close
together, if either of them turned his head even slightly it would have
knocked against the other's, the businessman was not only very small
but also sat hunched down, so that K. was also forced to bend down low
if he wanted to hear everything. "Not quite yet!" called out K., to turn
Leni away, his hand, still resting on the businessman's hand, twitching
with impatience. "He wanted me to tell him about my trial," said the
businessman to Leni. "Carry on, then, carry on," she said. She spoke to
the businessman with affection but, at the same time, with
condescension. K. did not like that, he had begun to learn that the man
was of some value after all, he had experience at least, and he was
willing to share it. Leni was probably wrong about him. He watched her
in irritation as Leni now took the candle from the businessman's
hand--which he had been holding on to all this time--wiped his hand
with her apron and then knelt beside him to scratch off some wax that
had dripped from the candle onto his trousers. "You were about to tell
me about the petty lawyers," said K., shoving Leni's hand away with no
further comment. "What's wrong with you today?" asked Leni, tapped him
gently and carried on with what she had been doing. "Yes, the petty
lawyers," said the businessman, putting his hand to his brow as if
thinking hard. K. wanted to help him and said, "You wanted immediate
results and so went to the petty lawyers." "Yes, that's right," said
the businessman, but did not continue with what he'd been saying. "Maybe
he doesn't want to speak about it in front of Leni," thought K.,
suppressing his impatience to hear the rest straight away, and stopped
trying to press him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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