Summary

Gregor insists he'll open the door immediately. He claims that he'd just been dizzy, but he is fine now. He begs the chief clerk not to make his family suffer. He promises to be on the eight o'clock train. Gregor can hear the chief clerk asking his parents if they understood a word of what Gregor said, and his mother insists that Gregor may really be ill and that their delay in getting in to him is causing him further suffering. He manages to use the dresser to haul himself upright, hearing his mother send Anna for a locksmith. Using the chair, he pushes his way to the door and ignoring the damage it causes his mouth, he closes his jaws over the key and turns it, afterward laying his head on the door handle to open the door. When the...