the effect his explanation had had on K. and then, with a certain unease, said, “Does it not occur to you that the way I'm speaking is almost like a lawyer? It's the incessant contact with the gentlemen of the court has that influence on me.

I gain a lot by it, of course, but I lose a lot, artistically speaking.” “How did you first come into contact with the judges, then?” asked K., he wanted first to gain the painter's trust before he took him into his service. “That was very easy,” said the painter, “I inherited these contacts. My father was court painter before me. It's a position that's always inherited. They can't use new people for it, the rules governing how the various grades of officials are painted are so many and varied, and, above all, so secret that no- one outside of