Chapter XXV Summary

K. wakes up twelve hours later, still in the barrel. He awakes to find Pepi in the room. She is furious with him. She explains that she was once almost in love with them because she was so grateful for the opportunity to work in the taproom; she had resigned herself to the dreadful life of a chambermaid. However, she blames K. for the reversal of her fortune. Being a chambermaid is now so much worse because she has tasted what a better life is like. She is not surprised that Frieda left him, though, for she has always thought her to be a scheming woman. Pepi claims that Frieda loved all the attention she received for being Klamm's mistress but, when the attention started to wane with time, wanted to find a new trick to put her back in the...