about nine
o'clock in the evening
`` So why would I want anything from you ? the court does n't want anything from you . It accepts you when you come and it lets you go when you leave . '' Chapter Ten End The evening before K. 's thirty-first birthday - it was about nine o'clock in the evening , the time when the streets were quiet - two men came to where he lived . In frock coats , pale and fat , wearing top hats that looked like they could not be taken off their heads . After some brief formalities at the door of the flat when they first arrived , the same formalities were repeated at greater length at K. 's door . He had not been notified they would be coming , but K. sat in a chair near the door , dressed in black as they were , and slowly put on new gloves which stretched tightly over his fingers and behaved as if he were expecting visitors .