Olga’s Plans

trousers, and in two hours, so that they would have some resemblance at least to the close-fitting trews of the official uniform, and he might appear in them before you, knowing, of course, that on this point you could be easily taken in. So much for Barnabas. But Amalia really despises his work as a messenger, and now that he seemed to have had a little success⁠—as she could easily guess from Barnabas and myself and our talking and whispering together⁠—she despised it more than ever. So she was speaking the truth, don’t deceive yourself about that. But if I, K. , have seemed to slight Barnabas’s work, it hasn’t been with any intention to deceive you, but from anxiety. These two letters that have gone through Barnabas’s hands are the first signs of grace, questionable as they are, that our family has received for three years. This change, if it is a change and not a deception⁠—deceptions are more frequent than changes⁠—is connected with your arrival here, our fate has become in a certain sense dependent on you, perhaps these two letters are only a beginning, and Barnabas’s abilities will be used for other things than these two letters concerning you⁠—we must hope that as long as we can⁠—for the time being however everything centres on you. Now up in the Castle we must rest content with whatever our lot happens to be, but down here we can, it may be, do something ourselves, that is, make sure of your goodwill, or at least save ourselves from your dislike, or, what’s more important, protect you as far as our strength and experience goes, so that your connection with the Castle⁠—by which we might perhaps be helped too⁠—might not be lost. Now what was our best way of bringing that about? To prevent you from having any suspicion of us when we approached you⁠—for you’re a stranger here and because of that certain to be full of suspicion, full of justifiable suspicion. And, besides we’re despised by everybody and you must be influenced by the general opinion, particularly through your fiancée, so how could we put ourselves forward without quite unintentionally setting ourselves up against your fiancée, and so offending you? And the messages, which I had read before you got them⁠—Barnabas didn’t read them, as a