Chapter 15 Chapter 15 (1)

Olga, seeing K. standing motionless with an air of astonishment on her face, could not help laughing at him, and then drew him to the high-backed bench by the fire, to have such an opportunity to talk to him. It seemed to her that she felt genuine pleasure in talking together, but it was a contented pleasure without the slightest jealousy.Precisely because she was not in the slightest jealousy and therefore did not desire anything from K., which was harmless to K., he looked happily at her blue eyes, which neither seductive nor frightened. People, but plain, frank.It seems that the warnings from Frieda and the proprietress did not make him more skeptical about those things, but became more observant and discerning.Olga said that she was surprised when he said that Amalia was good-hearted, and he laughed with her, because Amalia, although she had many good qualities in every way, could not be called good-hearted.K. then explained that he was really referring to Olga in this compliment, only because Amalia was so bossy that she not only took everything that was said in front of her and made others say it to her. Include her. "It's true," said Olga, becoming serious, "and it's truer than you think. Amalia is younger than me, and Barnabas, but her words define our family." Whether it is a disaster or a blessing is the supreme command, and of course she bears more responsibility than anyone else in our family, whether it is a disaster or a blessing." K thought this was an exaggeration, as Amalia said just now that she never cared Olga knew all about her brother. "Tell me how to say it clearly?" said Olga. "Amalia said she didn't care about Barnabas, or about me. She really didn't care about anyone but the two old people. She just took care of the old people day and night; just now she went to ask them what they needed, and went to the kitchen to give They cooked. She didn't even care about her own discomfort for their sake. Because she had been sick since noon, and she had been lying on this high-backed bench. But although she didn't care about us, we still Lean on her as if she were our big sister, and if she had any advice in our affairs we would take it, but she never would, she was very different from us. You've seen a lot She is from another country, do you also think she is a very intelligent person?" "She gives me the impression that she is a very unhappy person," said K. "As you say, you all respect Amalia. , but let’s talk about Barnabas, Amalia clearly disapproved of him being the envoy of the castle, and even ridiculed him, but he still accepted the errand, so how can you say that you respect her advice?” “If he still If he can do something else, he will quit this job at once, because he is not satisfied with it." "Isn't he a skilled shoemaker?" asked K. "Of course, he's a skilled shoemaker," said Olga, "and he often works for Brunswick in his spare time, and he can find work day and night if he likes it, You can earn a lot of money." "Well," said K., "then he can choose between the messenger and the shoemaker." "Choose one?" asked Olga in surprise. "Do you think he's an envoy to the castle for the money?" "Perhaps he did it for the money," said K. "Didn't you say he wasn't satisfied with the job himself?" "He wasn't, but it was for the sake of it." For all kinds of other reasons," said Olga, "but it's an errand for the castle, anyway, it's an errand for the castle, at least people think so." "Ah!" said K. "Don't you doubt that too?" "Well," said Olga, "I don't really doubt that Barnabas did go to the institutions of the castle, and the squire took him for himself." He can also meet various officials from afar, entrust him to deliver important letters, and even ask him to deliver messages. After all, there are many such cases. Therefore, a young man of his age We should be proud of what we have achieved." K. nodded in agreement, no longer thinking of going home. "Does he have a uniform himself?" he asked. "You mean the coat?" said Olga. "He doesn't have a uniform, the coat Amalia made him long before he was an emissary. But you're hitting a sore spot now. He should have had one--not a uniform, for there aren't many in the castle-- They promised to give him a set of clothes issued by the Ministry, but the castle always delays in doing things like this, and the worst thing is that you never know the reason for the delay; this can be understood as This matter is under consideration, but it can also be understood that this matter has not yet been carried out. For example, Barnabas is still in the trial stage. From a general point of view, it can also be understood that the whole matter has been determined, that is For some reason, they've rescinded that promise, and Barnabas can't get the suit. You don't know what's going on, or it's going to be a long time before you find out. We have a saying here, Perhaps you have heard it said before, that official decisions are as timid as big girls." "That's a very precise remark," said K., who took it more seriously than Olga did. "A very definite remark, the official decision, and perhaps some other features also resemble the older girl's." "Perhaps so," said Olga, "but as far as the official dress is concerned, it's Barbara." One of Nabas's biggest afflictions, and since we all share weal and woe, it is also my biggest affliction. We all ask ourselves why he doesn't get official clothes, but we can't make a reason. The whole thing is not that simple For example, officials obviously don't wear official clothes, as far as we know here and from what Barnabas told us, officials go to and fro in civilian clothes, smart casual clothes of course. Well, you saw Cram Barnabas is certainly not an official, not even the lowest rank, and he would never presume to dream of being an official. But according to Barnabas, the senior squires don't wear official clothes either. , of course, people have never seen them in the village, and some people may think this is a kind of self-consolation, but this kind of self-consolation is not reliable, can Barnabas be considered a high-ranking squire? He is not; He, you can't say he is, just because he is often in the village or even lives in the country is enough to prove that he is not a high-ranking servant, because the high-ranking servant is even more difficult to approach than some officials, maybe they are not The great audience, perhaps they were of a higher rank than many of the officers, and there was evidence of that, for they did little work, Barnabas used to say, looking at the figures ambulating the corridors. Tall, dignified people are great, and Barnabas always stays out of their way. Well, he may be a lowly page, but these people always have an official suit, at least when they come to the country They always wear their official clothes, which is not exactly a formal uniform. There are many different styles of this kind of clothes, but anyway, people will know that they are servants from the castle when they look at their clothes. I saw some of these valets in the Herrenhof Hotel. The most outstanding thing about this kind of clothes is that they are cut so well that a peasant orArtisans cannot wear them.Well, it's not just disgraceful or humiliating that they didn't send Barnabas clothes like that--you can imagine that--but because of the fact that whenever we're depressed-- Barnabas and I used to have that moment when -- we would doubt everything.At this point we cannot help but ask, is Barnabas really on the castle's errands?Yes, he was in and out of the office, but is this really the castle's office?If there were offices in the castle, were they the ones that Barnabas was allowed to enter?

"There are some rooms he can go in, but that's only part of the whole mechanism, because there are barriers blocking, and there are more rooms behind the barriers. It's not really that they don't allow him to pass through the barriers, they just meet the boss they'll call him off so he doesn't know how to get past the barriers. Besides, everybody's being watched over there, or so we think. And if there's no mission for him to What good would it do him, then, even if he did break in? You shouldn't imagine these barriers to be a definite line of demarcation; Barnabas always gave me that impression. There were barriers even at the doors of the rooms which he was admitted to, so that you knew that there were barriers which he passed which were exactly the same as those which he did not pass, so that it seemed that one should not guess at the The office behind that final barrier was unlike any he had ever seen. We only speculated like that in moments of dejection. But our doubts did not end there, and we could not restrain our doubts. Barnabas Met officials, Barnabas delivered letters. But who were those officials, and what were those letters? Now, he said, he appointed Klamm to deliver the letters, and Klamm himself gave him instructions. Well, it might be a Such a great favor, even the high-ranking servants have not received such a favor, it is unbelievable and terrifying. Just think about it, send it directly to Kram, and talk to him face to face! But, the situation is really like this Well, assuming that's the case, then why does Barnabas have to wonder if the official who is said to be Klamm is really Klamm?" "Olga," said K. You must be joking; you have doubts about Klamm's face, everyone knows what he looks like, even I have seen him." "Of course not, K.," said Olga. "I'm not kidding at all, I'm talking serious business. I'm not telling you all this just to burden you emotionally with myself, it's because you asked Barna Barnabas, Amalia asked me to tell you about him because I thought it might be useful for you to learn more about the situation. I also did it for Barnabas' sake, so that you Don't place too much hope on him, and there will be no pain of disappointment, and your disappointment will also make him painful. He is very sensitive, for example, last night because you were dissatisfied with him. Asleep. He pays special attention to the sentence you said, you said that you have a bad future with an envoy like him. He stayed up all night because of this sentence. I believe you don't know how uncomfortable he is, because the castle The emissary must be very strict with himself. He hardly ever has a moment of relaxation, even with you, although in your own opinion you do not demand much from him, because you have your own responsibility for the emissary's authority. The consistent view of the country, on which you make your request. But in the castle, their authority over the messengersBut there are different rules, and you can't see eye to eye with you, even if Barnabas should put his heart and soul into the job--unfortunately, it seems he often wants to.People would admit it and raise no objection, were it not for the question of whether Barnabas was really a messenger after all, and of course, in your presence, anyway, he wouldn't be able to express himself on that question. Any doubt, which would be tantamount to injuring his own existence, and gravely violated the law he believed he had been following, was not even expressed directly to me, and I had to sweeten it. He, lied to him, caressed him, and he showed it, without acknowledging that his doubts were really doubts.He's kind of like Amalia.I bet he didn't tell me everything, even though I was his only confidant.But we used to talk about Klamm, I've never met him; you know Frieda doesn't like me, she never lets me see him, but despite this, his appearance is very popular in the village Familiar, some people have seen him, everyone has heard of him, from several impressions of seeing him, some rumors and various distorted factors, constitute a basically real image of Klamm.But this is only basically true.As for the details, everyone can't agree on it, and maybe it doesn't look like Klamm's real face.For they say that he came to the village in the same way, and left the village in the same way; he was not the same after the beer as he was before the beer, and he was not the same when he was awake as when he was asleep. Also, he was not the same when he was alone as he was when he spoke to people, and--this was the most incomprehensible--when he was in the castle, he was almost another person again.Even in the village, people described him very differently, with different opinions about his length, size, manner, and beard; The same outfit, a black morning coat with a long tail.The various versions are, of course, not magical convulsions, which are easily explained; they depend on the mood of the observer at the time, on the degree of his agitation, on the hopes or the There were various degrees of disappointment, and besides, he generally only saw Klamm for a second or two.All that I tell you is what Barnabas used to tell me, and on the whole it is a sufficient explanation to a man who has no personal interest in it.But that was not enough for us; it was a matter of life and death for Barnabas whether it was really Klamm who Barnabas was speaking to. ""It's the same for me. ' said K., and they drew closer to each other on the bench.

All this depressing talk from Olga certainly affected K., but it was a great consolation to him to find other people, at least superficially, in exactly the same position as himself, with whom he could unite, You can be close to them in many ways, unlike Frieda's situation, there are not many ways to be close to her.It is true that he gradually gave up all hope of success through Barnabas, but the worse Barnabas was in the castle, the more closely he felt that Barnabas would be bound to him in the village; It never occurred to him that he would join Barnabas and his sisters in the village to fight such a desperate struggle.Naturally, the situation is far from fully explained, and the opposite result may be drawn, and one should not be swayed by Olga's undoubted innocence into mistaking Barnabas' integrity for the truth. . "Barnabas is familiar with all kinds of descriptions of Klamm's appearance," continued Olga; The village saw Klamm from the car window, or he believed it was him he saw, so he made full preparations to get to know Klamm better next time, but—how do you explain this?— When he went into the office at the castle and they pointed out to him that it was Klamm's officer, he didn't know him again, and for a long time afterwards he fancied that this was not his usual Klamm. But if you asked Barnabas, what is the difference between this Klamm and the Klamm that everyone usually describes? He can’t answer, or he will try to tell you and describe the official in the castle to you, but what he described is not the same. The Klamm we usually hear is exactly the same. Then, Barnabas, I said to him, why do you doubt that it is not Klamm? Why bother yourself? And he was obviously painful Began to speculate on the peculiarities of the official at the castle, but he seemed to be reminiscing rather than describing them, and besides, what he recalled were trifles—say, a particular gesture of nodding, or a piece of Vest unbuttoned, -- you just can't take it seriously. The way Klamm received Barnabas is more important, in my opinion. That's how Barnabas used to describe it to me, and he even described the room. Usually he was admitted to a large room, but it was not Klamm's office, nor even that of any official. A long desk divided the room into There are two rooms, the two ends of the desk are against the walls on both sides; the one on the side of the desk is so small that it is almost difficult for two people to pass by each other, it is used by officials, the one on the other side is spacious, and the It is a place where some parties, observers, attendants and emissaries wait. There are large open books side by side on the desk, and the officials stand by the desk, most of them are reading those books. They do not stare at one But they were not exchanging books, they were exchanging places. Barnabas was always amazed to see them shoving each other to exchange places, because there was almost no room to turn around. Adjacent to the desks were low tables at which the clerks sat, and when the officials needed notes, they dictated them. Barnabas was always amazed at the way they worked. Officials They never give explicit orders, nor dictate directions aloud, and you can hardly tell whether the officer is dictating anything at all, for he seems to be continuing to look at the book as before, only whispering as he reads but the scribes could hear the whisper. Sometimes the voice was so low that the scribe could not hear it in his seat, and then he had to jump up and hear the dictation clearly. After reading the content, I immediately sat down to write it down, then jumped up to listen, sat down to write again, just jumped up, sat down and kept busy. How strange this isWork!It is simply incomprehensible.Of course, Barnabas had plenty of time for such things, for when Klamm occasionally called him, he would often have to stand first in the large room for hours or days.Moreover, even if Klamm saw him, he would have saluted Klamm to attention, but that would not have meant much, because Klamm would probably turn his face to his book again and forget him. went.This happens all the time.What is the use of such a dispensable messenger mission?When I heard Barnabas say that he was going to the castle again early in the morning, I was very sad.It was another utterly futile trek, a wasted day, a fruitless hope.What good is this anyway?But the house was so full of cobbler's work that it could never be done, and Brunswick was always urging. ""Well, then," said K., "Barnabas has to persevere in order to get the assignment.This is understandable. There seems to be too many redundant staff in that place. It is impossible for everyone to be assigned to work every day. You don't have to complain about it. Everyone must be like this.On the whole, such a Barnabas has at last received a mission, and he has brought me two letters. ""It is true, of course," replied Olga, "we may be wrong to complain, especially when a girl like me, who knows only hearsay things, does not know everything like Barnabas, He must still have many things hidden in his stomach that he hasn't told me.But let me tell you how they gave him letters, say, your two letters.Barnabas did not get the letters directly from Klamm, but from a clerk.There is no specific day, no specific moment--which is why this job may seem easy, but in fact it is exhausting, because Barnabas must remain alert at all times,--a recorder Something suddenly remembered him and made a gesture to him. At that time, Kramm obviously did not give any instructions, and he just continued to read his book.It is true that Klamm was cleaning his spectacles when Barnabas walked by, but he does so often, but if he could still see without them, he might have looked at Barnabas then. Bass, however, Barnabas doubted that he saw anything; for Klamm's eyes were almost always closed, and he looked as if he had fallen asleep and was merely wiping his spectacles in his dream.At that time, the clerk was searching among a pile of manuscripts under the table, and picked up the letter addressed to you. Therefore, the letter was not written recently, and the outer envelope looked very old. Been there for ages.But if that was the case, why did they keep Barnabas waiting so long?Why did I keep you waiting?Naturally, that letter must have been on the shelf for a long time, because it has long been out of date.That was how they gave Barnabas a reputation as a poor and slow messenger.The clerk said calmly that this was a letter from Klamm to K., handed the letter to Barnabas, and told him to leave.But Barnabas had to hide the letter he had so hard to get close to his body and run home out of breath, so we sat like this on this high-backed bench, he told me When we got the letter, we both analyzed all the details and estimated how much he had achieved. Finally, we found that what he had achieved was insignificant. So the two of us became suspicious of this achievement, and when we came to Barna Bass put down the letter and didn't want to give it to you anymore, but he didn't want to go to bed either, and sat on his low stool all night, mending shoes.That's the way it is, K., now that you've heard all my secrets, you won't wonder why Amalia is so indifferent to these matters. ""But what happened to that letter? asked K. "The letter?" said Olga. "Well, some time later, when I had tortured Barnabas enough for that letter, which may have been days or weeks, he picked up the letter again." Letter comes, send it out.In these practical matters he always listened to me.Because after listening to what he told me, I can often wake up from the first impression and refresh myself, but he can't, or it may be because he knows more.So I always find things to say to him, like: What the hell are you after, Barnabas?What kind of future do you dream of, what kind of ambition?Do you want to climb so high and leave us, me, all behind you?Is this what you are after?How can I believe you are so dissatisfied with all your accomplishments?Now I can only think that you are not happy with your achievements!You just have to look around and see who in our neighborhood can do as well as you.I admit that their situation is different from ours. Apart from their daily livelihood, there is no room for them to have unreasonable thoughts, but even if you don't compare with them, you can tell at a glance that you are doing well.There may be obstacles, doubts, and disappointments, but that just means that nothing you get comes for free, and that you have to fight for every little thing, which we all know in advance; Everything gives us all the more reason to be proud, not discouraged.Besides, aren't you also fighting for us all?Doesn't that make any sense to you?Doesn't this give you new strength?I feel happy and even proud to have a younger brother like you. Doesn't the fact that I have such a brother give you confidence?It is not your little success at the castle that disappoints me, but how little I have contributed to yours.You can go to the castle, you can go to the office on time, you stay in the same room with Klamm all day long, you are a recognized official messenger, you have the right to official uniforms, you You have accepted the important mission entrusted to you, you have all the honors you deserve, but you came home from the castle, not hugging me, not crying with joy, and you were discouraged when you saw me, what for? Suspected, not interested in anything but mending shoes, you left that letter about our future fate in a corner.That's what I told him, and when I'd repeated it day after day, he finally sighed, picked up the letter, and went away.But perhaps it was not my words that prompted him to deliver the letter, but his desire to go to the castle again, which he dared not go to unless he delivered the letter. ""But everything you say is absolutely correct," said K. "It's amazing how well you understand it all.What a clever mind you have! ""No," said Olga, "you have been deceived by these words, and perhaps he has also been deceived."Because what on earth has he accomplished?He could go to an office, but it didn't seem like an office at all.He talks to Klamm, but is that man really Klamm?Was it someone who looked a little like Klamm?A secretary at most, perhaps, who resembled Klamm a little, and tried to be more like him, put on a little of Klamm's sleepy air.This aspect of his character is the easiest to imitate, and many people imitate him, although they all know that other aspects are not easy to imitate.A man like Klamm, whom everyone wanted to see, was rarely seen, and this easily produced many different shapes in everyone's imagination.For example, Klamm has a secretary in the village named Momus.you know him, don't you?He also hides behind the scenes, but I've seen him several times.A well-built young fellow, don't you think he's like that?So obviously he was nothing like Klamm.But you'll find people in the village who swear that Momus is Klamm, he's Klamm, and there's no other Klamm.That's how people make themselves confused.So, is there any reason to say that the situation in the castle is not the same?Someone appointed an official to be introduced to Barnabas as Kramm. Barnabas was always suspicious of whether he was like Kramm.And everything justified his suspicions.Can we imagine Crumb huddling around an ordinary room with other officials, a pencil tucked behind his ear?This is absolutely impossible.Barnabas, like a child and trusting like a child, used to say that the official was indeed like Klamm, and if he sat on the desk in his office with his name written on the door, then, I have no doubts at all.It's childish, but it makes sense.Naturally, it would have been more justified if he had asked people the truth of the matter while in the castle, because from his conversation it seemed that there must have been many people standing around at that time.Although their account was no more reliable than that of the man who had introduced him to Klamm, there must have been some common ground, some common ground for mutual comparison, among the dissenting opinions.It wasn't my idea, it was Barnabas's idea, and he dared not carry out his ideas, he dared not speak them to anyone lest he inadvertently violate some undeclared decree and lose his His occupation; see how doubtful he is; and this poor doubtfulness speaks more clearly of his place in the castle than all the pictures he has drawn.He dared not even ask an insignificant question, how vague and terrible all this must have seemed to him!As soon as I thought of this, I reproached myself for letting him go alone into those unknown rooms. Although he was more courageous than a coward, the surroundings still affected him. While there, visibly shaking with fear. "

"I think you've got to the crux of the matter here," said K. "Exactly. You told me at last, and I believe I can see things like this clearly. Barnabas was too young for such an errand. There was nothing on the surface of what he told you. It is worth taking seriously. Since he was so frightened and delirious in the castle, he naturally lost the ability to observe things. If you force him to tell you what he saw, what you hear is just a mess. It doesn't surprise me. Fear of the authorities is a natural trait of your people here, and it affects your entire life in various ways and aspects, and you yourself try to strengthen this influence. However, basically Nor am I against the reverence of the Crown; and if the Crown is good, why should it not be revered by others? It is only that an inexperienced lad like Barnabas should not be suddenly sent to the castle, who never You didn’t take a step outside the village, but you expected to hear all the true and reliable information from him, took every word he said as a basis for explanation, and pinned your life’s happiness on such a basis. No more Nothing could be more wrong than that. I confess that I myself led him in the wrong way, that I pinned my hope on him and then suffered the pain of disappointment, both based on what he said In other words, there is no basis for it." Olga said nothing. "It's not easy for me to convince you to stop trusting your brother," continued K. "because I know how much you love him and expect so much from him. But I have to convince you, if only for your sake." Love and hope for him. I would like to point out that there is always something - I don't know what it is - that keeps you from seeing how much Barnabas has been bestowed upon - I I don't want to talk about his achievements. He was allowed to go to the office, you might like to say the reception room, well, it is the reception room, there must be a door to the back of the reception room, if one has courage, those Barriers can be passed. Take me for example, this reception room is absolutely inaccessible, at least not for now. I don't know who the person who talked to Barnabas was, maybe the whole staff The lowest level of clerk, but even the lowest level, you can have a relationship with his superior through him, and if this is not possible, he can at least tell you the name of his superior, if he can even do this No, he can also tell you who knows the name of his boss. The so-called Klamm may have nothing in common with the real Klamm, and the two people may not be similar in appearance. Only in Barnaba It was only because he was so frightened that he couldn't see clearly that this Klamm might be the lowest official, or even an official at all, but he always worked at a desk. , he was still flipping through the big book, he was still dictating something in a low voice to the clerk, and when his eyes occasionally fell on Barnabas, he was always thinking, even these things Not real, he and his movements are irrelevant, but at least there is a purpose to putting him there. All this is to say that there is not nothing there, but something to give Barna There were at least one or two things that Bass took advantage of; and if Barnabas got nothing but doubt, anxiety, and disappointment, it was his own fault. It was only on the worst side of things. explanation, but the facts will never be so unfavorable. Because we actually received two letters. Of course, I don't think these letters are very important, but they are more important than what Barnabas said. Even if these letters It's a worthless old letter, randomly picked out from a pile of equally worthless old letters, not much better than the letter picked up by a parrot in the market when it performs fortune-telling; even if it is completely so , these two letters still have something to do with my fate. These two letters are obviously meaningful to me, although not necessarily beneficial, because according to the confirmation of the village chief and his wife, they were written by Klamm himself. Confirm that this letter is of great importance, private and private though it is, but nonetheless important." "Did the mayor say so?" asked Olga. "是的，他是这样说的，"Ｋ回答她。 "我一定得把这件事告诉巴纳巴斯，"奥尔林连忙说道，"这会给他一个很大的鼓励。""但是他并不需要鼓励，"Ｋ说，"你鼓励他，就等于说他做得对，他就会按照目前这样继续干下去，然而，这正是他于不出任何名堂来的原因。要是一个人的眼睛缚上了绷带，不管你怎样鼓励他，叫他透过绷带往外瞧，他决不会看见什么东西。只有把绷带拿掉了以后，他才看得见。巴纳巴斯需要的是帮助，而不是鼓励。只要想一想，在城堡这样一个庞大的统治机构有着各种错综复杂的关系--我来到这儿以前，我还以为我对这种统治机构的性质是有所认识的，我这种想法多么幼稚！--在城堡里，唔，全都是权威人物，他们的对方是巴纳巴斯，只有巴纳巴斯一个人，只有他一个人可怜巴巴地蜷缩在一间办公室的又黑又冷落的角落里消磨一生，对他来说，这就是够光荣的啦。""Ｋ，你别以为我们把巴纳巴斯面临的困难估计低了，"奥尔珈说，"我们对权威当局怀着足够的敬意，你自己也这样说过的。""但这是一种不恰当的敬意，"Ｋ说，"你们的敬意不该用在这种地方，这种敬意反而亵读了对方。巴纳巴斯获得了进入办公室的特权，但是他在办公室里什么事情也不做，白白浪费了时间，回来后还要轻视和贬抑那些自己刚才还在他们面前发抖的人，或者就是心灰意懒，连信也搁下不肯送了，交给他的使命也不去执行了，难道这样滥用特权你能说是出于敬意吗？这跟敬意差得远哩。可我还要说一句责怪的话，奥尔珈，我也应该责怪你，我不能宽恕你。尽管你以为你对当局是相当尊敬的，可是你却把这么一个年轻、懦弱和孤单的巴纳巴斯送到城堡里去，至少你没有劝他别上那儿去。"

"你的谴责，"奥尔珈说，"也是我开头自己所作的谴责。其实并不是我叫他到城堡里去的，我没有叫他去，那是他自己去的，但是我应该尽量设法不让他去。用强迫的办法，用巧妙的办法，用说服的办法。我应该拦住他不让他去，可是如果今天要我再下决心的话，如果现在我对巴纳巴斯和我们全家所处的窘迫境地，也像当时那样感到痛心的话，如果巴纳巴斯尽管明明知道摆在他面前的责任和危险，还是含着微笑离开我到城堡去的话，那么，虽然在这中间已经发生了这许多事情，我还是不会把他拉回来的，而且我相信，要是你处在我的地位，你也不会拉他回来的。你不知道我们的处境有多么困难，这就是为什么你对我们大家，特别是对巴纳巴斯不公平的原因。那时候我们抱的希望比现在大，不过也并不是很大，而我们的处境却是很苦的，现在也还是这样。弗丽达一点也没有给你谈起我们的情况吗？""只是隐隐约约地谈了一些，"Ｋ说，"没有说到什么具体的事情，可是一提起你的名字她就生气。""旅馆的老板娘也没有告诉你什么事情吗？""没有，没有谈起什么。""旁人都没有谈起吗？""一个人也没有。""当然啰，谁能告诉你什么事情呢？关于我们的事情，人人都晓得一点，有的是他们打听到的事实，有的不过是夸大其词的传闻罢了，大部分是编造出来的，他们毫无必要地猜测我们的事情，但是又没有一个人真的愿意说出来，大家不好意思把这些事情说出来。他们不说是很对的。Ｋ，甚至在你的面前也很难说出来；你听了这些事以后，你可能就会离开我们--你不会吗？--再也不跟我们来往了，哪怕这些事对你似乎并没有多大关系。这样，我们就会失去你，而我可以坦白地说，现在对我来说，你几乎比巴纳巴斯在城堡里干的差事还更重要。可是，尽管这一下午的话已经谈得我昏头昏脑，可我还得把事情告诉你，要不然你就看不透我们的处境，而使我感到最苦痛的是，你会继续亏待巴纳巴斯。我们之间要达到完全的一致也就不可能了，你既不能帮我们的忙，我们也不可能再给你帮什么忙。可是我还得问你一个问题：你真的要听吗？""你问这干吗？"Ｋ说，"假使必要的话，我是很愿意听的，可你为什么这样巴巴地问我？""这是因为迷信，"奥尔珈说，"像你这样天真，几乎跟巴纳巴斯一样的天真，你会卷人到我们的旋涡里来的。""快点告诉我吧，"Ｋ说，"我并不害怕。像你这样婆婆妈妈大惊小怪的样子，倒真是要把事情越搞越糟啦。"