I

seemed to have borne the head down. Because of this pose the man’s full beard was pressed in at the chin and spread out further down. His left hand was buried in his luxuriant hair, but seemed incapable of supporting the head. “Who is that?” asked K. , “the Count?” He was standing before the portrait and did not look round at the landlord. “No,” said the latter, “the Castellan.” “A handsome castellan, indeed,” said K. , “a pity that he has such an ill-bred son.” “No, no,” said the landlord, drawing K. a little towards him and whispering in his ear, “Schwarzer exaggerated yesterday, his father is only an under-castellan, and one of the lowest, too.” At that moment the landlord struck K. as a very child. “The villain!” said K. with a laugh, but the landlord instead of laughing said, “Even his father is powerful.” “Get along with you,” said K. , “you think everyone powerful. Me too, perhaps?” “No,” he replied, timidly yet seriously, “I don’t think you powerful.” “You’re a keen observer,” said K. , “for between you and me I’m not really powerful. And consequently I suppose I have no less respect for the powerful than you have, only I’m not so honest as you and am not always willing to acknowledge it.” And K. gave the landlord a tap on the cheek to hearten him and awaken his friendliness. It made him smile a little. He was actually young, with that soft and almost beardless face of his; how had he come to have that massive, elderly wife, who could be seen through a small window bustling about the kitchen with her elbows sticking out? K. did not want to force his confidence any further, however, nor to scare away the smile he had at last evoked. So he only signed to him to open the door, and went out into the brilliant winter morning.

Now he could see the Castle above him, clearly defined in the glittering air, its outline made still more definite by the moulding of snow covering it in a thin layer. There seemed to be much less snow up there on the hill than down in the village, where K. found progress as laborious as on the main road the previous day. Here the heavy snowdrifts reached right up to the cottage windows and began again on the low roofs, but up on the hill everything soared light and free into the air, or at least so it appeared from down below.