with much more vigour than has so far been the case.” “I see,” said the lawyer, “you've become impatient.” “I am not impatient,” said K., with some irritation and he stopped paying so much attention to his choice of words.

“When I first came here with my uncle you probably noticed I wasn't greatly concerned about my case, and if I wasn't reminded of it by force, as it were, I would forget about it completely. But my uncle insisted I should allow you to represent me and I did so as a favour to him. I could have expected the case to be less of a burden than it had been, as the point of taking on a lawyer is that he should take on some of its weight. But what actually happened was the opposite. Before, the trial was never such a worry for me as it has been since you've been