Gregor found out clearly enough (for his father tended
to repeat himself often in his explanations, partly because
he had not personally concerned himself with these
matters for a long time now, and partly also because his
mother did not understand everything right away the first
time) that, in spite all bad luck, a fortune, although a very
small one, was available from the old times, which the
interest (which had not been touched) had in the
intervening time gradually allowed to increase a little.
Furthermore, in addition to this, the money which Gregor
had brought home every month (he had kept only a few
florins for himself) had not been completely spent and had
grown into a small capital amount. Gregor, behind his
door, nodded eagerly, rejoicing over this unanticipated
foresight and frugality. True, with this excess money, he
could have paid off more of his father’s debt to his
employer and the day on which he could be rid of this
position would have been a lot closer, but now things
were doubtless better the way his father had arranged
them.
At the moment, however, this money was nowhere
near sufficient to permit the family to live on the interest
payments. Perhaps it would be enough to maintain the
family for one or at most two years, that’s all. Thus it cameonly to an amount which one should not really take out
and which must be set aside for an emergency. But the
money to live on must be earned. Now, his father was a
healthy man, although he was old, who had not worked at
all for five years now and thus could not be counted on
for very much. He had in these five years, the first
holidays of his trouble-filled but unsuccessful life, put on a
good deal of fat and thus had become really heavy. And
should his old mother now maybe work for money, a
woman who suffered from asthma, for whom wandering
through the apartment even now was a great strain and
who spent every second day on the sofa by the open
window labouring for breath? Should his sister earn
money, a girl who was still a seventeen-year-old child,
whose earlier life style had been so very delightful that it
had consisted of dressing herself nicely, sleeping in late,
helping around the house, taking part in a few modest
enjoyments and, above all, playing the violin? When it
came to talking about this need to earn money, at first
Gregor went away from the door and threw himself on
the cool leather sofa beside the door, for he was quite hot
from shame and sorrow.