for a few minutes then. We certainly can't talk out here, we'd wake everyone up and I think that would be more unpleasant for us than for them.

Wait here till I've put the light on in my room, and then turn the light down out here.” K. did as he was told, and then even waited until Miss B�rstner came out of her room and quietly invited him, once more, to come in. “Sit down,” she said, indicating the ottoman, while she herself remained standing by the bedpost despite the tiredness she had spoken of; she did not even take off her hat, which was small but decorated with an abundance of flowers. “What is it you wanted, then? I'm really quite curious.” She gently crossed her legs. “I expect you'll say,” K. began, “that the matter really isn't all that urgent and we don't need to