It wears you out too much, and it's really not much use. And it turned out to be quite impossible to work there yourself and to negotiate, at least for me it was. It's a heavy strain there just sitting and waiting. You know yourself what the air is like in those offices.” “How do you know I've been there, then?” asked K. “I was in the waiting room myself when you went through.” “What a coincidence that is!” exclaimed K., totally engrossed and forgetting how ridiculous the businessman had seemed to him earlier.

“So you saw me! You were in the waiting room when I went through. Yes, I did go through it one time.” “It isn't such a big coincidence,” said the businessman, “I'm there nearly every day.” “I expect I'll have to go there quite often