it seemed to K. as if all contact with him had been broken off, as if he were now indeed freer than ever, as if he could wait here in this otherwise forbidden place as long as he wished; as if he had fought for this freedom as few others could have done, as if no one could touch him or drive him away, or even speak to him, and yet at the same time – and this conviction was at least as strong – as if there were nothing more senseless, more desolate than this freedom, this waiting, this invulnerability.
