Klamm’s I call them in my mind, though not seriously, but perhaps they are really that. Their eyes⁠—those ingenuous and yet flashing eyes⁠—remind me somehow of Klamm’s; yes, that’s it, it’s Klamm’s glance that sometimes runs through me from their eyes. And so it’s not true when I say that I’m ashamed for them. I only wish it were. I know quite well that anywhere else and in anyone else their behaviour would seem stupid and offensive, but in them it isn’t. I watch their stupid tricks with respect and admiration. But if they’re Klamm’s messengers who’ll rid us of them? and besides would it be a good thing to be rid of them? Wouldn’t you have to fetch them back at once in that case and be happy if they were still willing to come?” “You want me to bring them back again?” asked K. “No, no!” said Frieda, “it’s the last thing I desire. The sight of them, if they were to rush in here now, their joy at seeing me again, the way they would hop round like children and stretch out their arms to me like men; no, I don’t think I would be able to stand that. But all the same when I remember that if you keep on hardening your heart to them, it will keep you, perhaps, from ever getting admittance to Klamm, I want to save you by any means at all from such consequences. In that case my only wish is for you to let them in. In that case let them in now at once. Don’t bother about me; what do I matter? I’ll defend myself as long as I can, but if I have to surrender, then I’ll surrender with the consciousness that that too is for your sake.” “You only strengthen me in my decision about the assistants,” said K. “Never will they come in with my will. The fact that I’ve got them out of this proves at least that in certain circumstances they can be managed, and therefore, in addition, that they have no real connection with Klamm. Only last night I received a letter from Klamm from which it was clear that Klamm was quite falsely informed about the assistants, from which again one can only draw the conclusion that he is completely indifferent to them, for if that were not so he would certainly have obtained exact information about them. And the fact that you see Klamm in them proves nothing, for you’re still, unfortunately, under the landlady’s influence and see Klamm