- end_line
- 1845
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T20:59:42.861Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1806
- text
- the men that they might like to come into Gregor’s room. They did so,
and stood around Gregor’s corpse with their hands in the pockets of
their well-worn coats. It was now quite light in the room.
Then the door of the bedroom opened and Mr. Samsa appeared in his
uniform with his wife on one arm and his daughter on the other. All of
them had been crying a little; Grete now and then pressed her face
against her father’s arm.
“Leave my home. Now!”, said Mr. Samsa, indicating the door and without
letting the women from him. “What do you mean?”, asked the middle of
the three gentlemen somewhat disconcerted, and he smiled sweetly. The
other two held their hands behind their backs and continually rubbed
them together in gleeful anticipation of a loud quarrel which could
only end in their favour. “I mean just what I said”, answered Mr.
Samsa, and, with his two companions, went in a straight line towards
the man. At first, he stood there still, looking at the ground as if
the contents of his head were rearranging themselves into new
positions. “Alright, we’ll go then”, he said, and looked up at Mr.
Samsa as if he had been suddenly overcome with humility and wanted
permission again from Mr. Samsa for his decision. Mr. Samsa merely
opened his eyes wide and briefly nodded to him several times. At that,
and without delay, the man actually did take long strides into the
front hallway; his two friends had stopped rubbing their hands some
time before and had been listening to what was being said. Now they
jumped off after their friend as if taken with a sudden fear that Mr.
Samsa might go into the hallway in front of them and break the
connection with their leader. Once there, all three took their hats
from the stand, took their sticks from the holder, bowed without a word
and left the premises. Mr. Samsa and the two women followed them out
onto the landing; but they had had no reason to mistrust the men’s
intentions and as they leaned over the landing they saw how the three
gentlemen made slow but steady progress down the many steps. As they
turned the corner on each floor they disappeared and would reappear a
few moments later; the further down they went, the more that the Samsa
family lost interest in them; when a butcher’s boy, proud of posture
with his tray on his head, passed them on his way up and came nearer
than they were, Mr. Samsa and the women came away from the landing and
went, as if relieved, back into the flat.
- title
- Chunk 14