Amalia’s Secret
“Judge for yourself,” said Olga, “I warn you it sounds quite simple, one can’t comprehend at first why it should be of any importance. There’s a great official in the Castle called Sortini.” “I’ve heard of him already,” said K., “he had something to do with bringing me here.” “I don’t think so,” said Olga, “Sortini hardly ever comes into the open. Aren’t you mistaking him for Sordini, spelt with a d?” “You’re quite right,” said K., “Sordini it was.” “Yes,” said Olga, “Sordini is well-known, one of the most industrious of the officials, he’s often mentioned; Sortini on the other hand is very retiring and quite unknown to most people. More than three years ago I saw him for the first and last time. It was on the third of July at a celebration given by the Fire Brigade, the Castle too had contributed to it and provided a new fire-engine. Sortini, who was supposed to have some hand in directing the affairs of the Fire Brigade, but perhaps he was only deputising for someone else—the officials mostly hide behind each other like that, and so it’s difficult to discover what any official is actually responsible for—Sortini took part in the ceremony of handing over the fire-engine. There were of course many other people from the Castle, officials and attendants, and true to his character Sortini kept well in the background. He’s a small, frail, reflective-looking gentleman, and one thing about him struck all the people who noticed him at all, the way his forehead was furrowed; all the furrows—and there were plenty of them although he’s certainly not more than forty—were spread fanwise over his forehead, running towards the root of his nose, I’ve never seen anything like it. Well then, we had that celebration. Amalia and I had been excited about it for weeks beforehand, our Sunday clothes had been done up for the occasion and were partly new, Amalia’s dress was specially fine, a white blouse foaming high in front with one row of lace after the other, our mother had taken every bit of her lace for it. I was jealous, and cried half the night before the celebration. Only when the Bridge Inn landlady came to see us in the morning—” “The Bridge Inn landlady?” asked K. “Yes,” said Olga, “she was a great friend of ours, well, she came and had to admit that Amalia was the finer, so to console me she lent me her own necklace of Bohemian garnets. When we were ready to go and Amalia was standing beside me and we were all admiring her, my father said: ‘Today, mark my words, Amalia will find a husband’; then, I don’t know why, I took my necklace, my great pride, and hung it round Amalia’s neck, and wasn’t jealous any longer. I bowed before her triumph and I felt that everyone must bow before her, perhaps what amazed us so much was the difference in her appearance, for she wasn’t really beautiful, but her sombre glance, and it has kept the same quality since that day, was high over our heads and involuntarily one had almost literally to bow before her. Everybody remarked on it, even Lasemann and his wife who came to fetch us.” “Lasemann?” asked K. “Yes, Lasemann,” said Olga, “we were in high esteem, and the celebration couldn’t well have begun without us, for my father was the third in command of the Fire Brigade.” “Was your father still so active?” asked K. “Father?” returned Olga, as if she did not quite comprehend, “three years ago he was still relatively a young man, for instance when a fire broke out at the Herrenhof he carried an official, Galater, who is a heavy man, out of the house on his back at a run. I was there myself, there was no real danger, it was only some dry wood near a stove which had begun to smoke, but Galater was terrified and cried for help out of the window, and the Fire Brigade turned out, and father had to carry him out although the fire was already extinguished. Of course Galater finds it difficult to move and has to be careful in circumstances like that. I’m telling you this only on father’s account; not much more than three years have passed since then, and look at him now.” Only then did K. become aware that Amalia was again in the room, but she was a long way off at
