‘Why did you wake me, then?’

But here the young man lost his temper. ‘You’ve the manners of a tramp!’ he shouted, ‘I demand respect for the count’s office! I woke you to say you must leave the count’s territory immediately.’

‘Enough of this farce,’ K. said with remarkable gentleness, lying down again and pulling the blanket over him. ‘You’re going a little too far, young man, and I shall have more to say about your conduct in the morning. The landlord and the gentlemen here are my witnesses, in so far as I need witnesses at all. For the rest, I would have you know that I am the land surveyor the count sent for. My assistants will be following in the carriage tomorrow with the instruments. I was keen not to miss the walk through the snow, but unfortunately I wandered off the road a few times, which is why I was so late getting here. I knew for myself it was too late then to report to the castle, even before your lecture. That is also the reason why I was content to spend the night here, the night you have had the – to put it mildly – discourtesy to disturb. That is all I have to say. Good night, gentlemen.’ And K. rolled over to face the stove.

‘Land surveyor?’ he heard someone ask hesitantly behind him, then all was quiet. However, the young man soon pulled himself together and, in tones that were sufficiently muted to pass as consideration for K.’s sleep and loud enough to be audible to him, said to the landlord: ‘I’ll telephone and inquire.’ What, there was even a telephone in this village inn? They were very well equipped here. Specifically, this surprised K. In a general way he had expected it, of course. The telephone turned out to be almost above his head, in his drowsiness he had failed to notice it. If the young man now had to telephone, he could not with the best will in the world have avoided waking K. up, the only question was whether K. should let him telephone. He decided to allow it. That meant, of course, there was also no point in pretending to be asleep, so he rolled over on to his back again. He watched the peasants move cautiously together and confer, the arrival of a land surveyor was no small thing. The door to the kitchen had opened, the mighty figure of the landlady stood filling the frame, the landlord tiptoed over to tell her what was happening. And at this point the telephone conversation began. The steward was asleep, but an under-steward, one of the under-stewards, a man called Fritz, was there. The young man, who gave his name as Schwarzer, told how he had found K., a man in his thirties, quite ragged-looking, lying peacefully asleep on a palliasse, with a tiny rucksack for a pillow, a heavy walking-stick within reach. Well, he had looked suspicious, naturally, and since the landlord had clearly neglected his duty it had been his, Schwarzer’s, duty to get to the bottom of the matter. K., he said, had taken the rousing from sleep, the interrogation, and the obligatory threat of expulsion from the county with a very bad grace, though as things turned out perhaps justifiably, since he claimed to be a land surveyor appointed by the count. It was of course at least technically necessary for this claim to be checked, and Schwarzer was therefore requesting Mr Fritz to make inquiries in the main office as to whether a land surveyor of this kind really was expected and to telephone the answer through immediately.

Then there was silence, Fritz was making inquiries at the other end and here an answer was awaited, K.