Chapter 10 chapter Ten

K. went out, stepped into the windy street, and looked around in the darkness.The weather is bad, bad.He recalled how the proprietress tried her best to force him to make concessions to the interview record, and how he insisted on it, as if there was some connection between the two.Naturally, the landlady's intentions were not expressed directly, and at the same time she was secretly pushing K to object to the minutes of the interview; in fact, he could not say whether he resisted or finally gave in.This is a conspiracy blindly executed according to strange orders from afar, and it seems that like this wild wind of nature, you can't guess its true meaning.

He had gone but a few steps along the avenue when he saw two lamps flickering in the distance; delighted by these signs of life, he hurried towards them, and they came towards him.He couldn't explain why he was so disappointed when he recognized his two assistants.They still came up to meet him, apparently Frieda had sent them, and the lantern that was handed him out of the howling darkness was his own; but he was disappointed, he expected something else, Not such acquaintances who are a burden to him.But they were not alone in the dark, and Barnabas came out between them. "Barnabas!" cried K., holding out his hand. "Are you here to see me?" He was pleasantly surprised to meet Barnabas again, which eliminated the feeling of disgust he once had at the beginning. "I came to see you," replied Barnabas, still as friendly as ever, "I have brought you a letter from Klamm." "A letter from Klamm to me!" K. shook his head. He leaned back and called out. "Bring the lamp here!" he called to his two assistants, who were now crowded close to either side of him, each carrying the lantern.Because of the strong wind, K. had to fold the large sheets of paper into smaller pieces when reading the letters.He read: "To the Land Surveyor at the Bridgehead Inn. I commend you for the surveying work you have done so far. The assistants are also to be commended for their work. You know how to make them work. Don't let up. Slack! I hope you continue to work in order to achieve a good result. Any interruption of work will make me unhappy. Other than that, there is no need to worry about it. Due to the salary problem, it will immediately cause the master's displeasure, so I plan to solve it later, and everything is my own arrangement." [note]

The two assistants read much more slowly than he did, and when they read such good news, they shouted three times and waved the lanterns in their hands. "Don't shout so loudly," he said, and then to Barnabas, "it's a misunderstanding." Barnabas didn't seem to understand him. "It was a misunderstanding," repeated K., again as tired as in the afternoon, and the walk to the schoolhouse seemed long, and behind Barnabas he could see his whole family, the two The assistants were still crowded around him, and he had to elbow them away.He had ordered them to stay with Frieda, why did Frieda send them to fetch him?He knew his way home perfectly, and it was better to go alone than with the gang.To make matters worse, one of the assistants had a scarf wrapped around his neck, the ends of which hung up and down in the wind, and several times caught K. in the face; The long and sharp fingers kept untying him, but it was still to no avail.The two assistants seemed to find it extremely enjoyable to run around like this. Such a strong wind and such a desolate night made them feel very happy. "Go away!" shouted K. "Since you came to fetch me, why didn't you bring my cane? What do you want me to bring you home now?" They hid behind Barnabas, but fearful as they were, they stayed together. Left and right raised the lanterns to the shoulders of their guardians; but K. immediately pushed them away. "Barnabas," said K., knowing that Barnabas obviously did not understand him, and that although his coat shone beautifully when things were going well, when things got serious, he never He will not get any help from him, but he will silently oppose him. Such opposition, he is helpless, because Barnabas himself is helpless, he can only smile slightly, just as the stars in the sky want There was nothing he could do against this blizzard on the ground, so he felt a heavy weight in his heart. "Look what Klamm wrote!" said K., holding the letter before him. "He didn't get the right information. I didn't do any surveying work at all, and you can see for yourself how useful these two assistants are. And, obviously, I can't stop a job that I never set my hands on." ; and I have no means of displeasing my master, so how can I say that I have his approval? As for keeping me from worrying, I can't do it." "I'll take care of it, ' said Barnabas, who had been looking at the letter, but he could not see it clearly, for he held it too close to his face. "Ah," said K., "you promised me that you would pay attention to this matter, but can I really trust you? I need a reliable messenger now more than ever." K. bit his lip anxiously. "Sir," replied Barnabas, with a slight tilt of his head--a ​​gesture that almost fascinated K. again and made him believe in Barnabas--"of course I must pay attention to this matter, and Of course I must pay attention to the message you sent me last time." "What!" cried K. "So you haven't paid attention to the message I sent you last time? Didn't you go up to the castle the next day?" "No," replied Barnabas, "my father is old, and you saw I met him, and I happened to have a lot of work to do, and I had to help him, but now I'm going to the castle." "What are you thinking, you can't guess who?" cried K., beating his forehead with his fist. "So, isn't Klamm's business more important than other things? You're in a very important position, you're a messenger, and yet you're deceiving me with your baseness! Your father's job counts." What? Klamm is waiting for the report, and you'd rather be cleaning the stables than sending it to him!" "My father was a cobbler," replied Barnabas calmly, "he never There was an order from Brunswick, and I was my father's assistant." "The cobbler . . . the order . . . Like repeal. "Who needs boots in these perpetually deserted streets? And what have I to do with mending shoes? I don't place my trust in you to put it away carelessly, to let you I crushed it on your stool, but I told you to give it to Klamm right away!" Remembering that Klamm was obviously at the Herrenhof Hotel and not at the castle at all, K. He calmed down a bit; but Barnabas insisted on telling him that he had not forgotten the first message K. had sent him, and then he repeated the contents of the message, which angered K. again. "Enough! I don't want to hear any more," he said. "Don't be angry with me, sir," said Barnabas, seeming to express his displeasure with K. unconsciously, and turned his eyes away from K., looking down at the ground, but he might just not Satisfied with K's momentary impulse. "I'm not angry with you," said K., and now he was angry with himself. "I'm not angry with you, but the future is not looking good for me to have you as a messenger to deliver something important to me." Listen to me," said Barnabas, as if to Keeping his honor as a messenger, he said what he should not have said, "Klamm wasn't actually waiting to hear from you, and whenever I went to him he lost his temper.Another news, he said once.Whenever he saw me passing by from a distance, he would get up and go into the next room, refusing to see me.Besides, there is no rule that I must send news as soon as I have it; if there were such a rule, I would send it immediately; mine is not.I send messages to others only out of my own free will. ""Well, very well," replied K., looking intently at Barnabas, deliberately not looking at the two assistants, who were poking their heads slowly in turn from behind Barnabas' shoulders. , as if protruding from the skylight, then whistled softly as if imitating the howling wind, and hastily hid their heads behind Barnabas' back, as if afraid of K.; I played happily for a long time." I don't know what kind of temper Kram has, but I don't believe that you know everything about the castle. Even if you really know everything, we won't see you. It could make things better.But you still have to send me a message, and that's all I ask of you.This is a very brief message.Can you send it to me tomorrow, and bring back the answer that day, or at least tell me how I received you?Would you like to do it?For me, this has helped me a lot.And I may still have a chance to pay you properly.What do you have now maybe I can meet your request? ""Of course I am willing to carry out your orders," said Barnabas. "You will carry out my orders to the best of your ability, take this message to Kramm himself, and immediately bring back his own answer, all of which Everything has to be done at once tomorrow morning. Would you like to do that? ""I do my best," replied Barnabas, "I always do my best. ""We don't have to argue about that now," said K., "and here is the message I want you to take: the land surveyor asks the magistrate to grant him a private interview; he is happy to accept any conditions related to this."This request was made out of desperation, since none of the intermediaries had played any role so far; he would like to provide further proof of this: so far, he has not carried out any survey work at all, and according to the notice given to him by the village chief, the village There is no need to carry out this work; therefore, I have mixed feelings of shame and hatred for reading the letter from the Chief; only seeing the Chief in person can be beneficial.The land surveyor is well aware of the presumptuousness of this request, but he will disturb the magistrate as little as possible by it; Even if he only speaks ten words, he is confident that he can do it.He awaited the decision of the chief with great respect and great anxiety. "While dictating the letter, K. almost forgot himself, as if he were standing at Klamm's door addressing the porter." "This message is much longer than I thought," he said, "but You must bear in mind that I don't like to write letters, a letter will only be repeated endlessly like other official documents. "So, in order to give Barnabas a basis, he leaned over the back of an assistant and scribbled the contents of the message on a slip of paper, while the other assistant held a lantern to light it for him; but K. could already I wrote down all the content from Barnabas' retelling, because Barnabas had memorized it all, and even though the two assistants interrupted in a hurry, he recited it verbatim. "You have a remarkable memory," said K., handing him the slip of paper, "but now I hope you will show yourself to be excellent in other ways as well.do you have any requests?No?If you had asked anything, I would have been a little more reassured about the fate of this message, to tell you the truth. "Barnabas remained silent at first, and then he said: "My sisters want me to say hello to you for them. "Your sisters," replied K., "oh yes, those two tall, strong girls. ""They both send their regards to you, especially Amalia," said Barnabas. "Besides, it was she who brought me this letter from the Castle today. ’ This remark moved K., so he asked: ”Can she still take this message from me to the castle?Otherwise, can the two of you go together and try your luck separately? "Amalia can't go to the magistrate's office," said Barnabas, "or she'd be more than happy to be of your service." ""I may come to see you at your house tomorrow," said K., "but first you have to bring me the answer."I am waiting for you at school.Please also give my regards to your sister. "K.'s promise seemed to make Barnabas very happy, so after they shook hands, he couldn't help touching K.'s shoulder lightly. It was as if Barnabas had just entered the hotel for the first time. , looking cheerful among the peasants, K. felt as though it were an honor to have his touch on his shoulder, although he found it ridiculous. Now he let his two assistants in a more relaxed mood. Giggling and laughing on the way home.