Now that he had a goal, his steps quickened of their own accord. It was a quarter past six. A suburban train must have just pulled in: a crowd of workers, little bundles tucked under their arms or held in their hands, came pouring out of the exit. At the sight of the hurrying workers Gurdweill felt a fleeting shame, shame at the grotesque and pointless reason for his own presence here at this early hour. It was clear to him that everyone knew immediately what had happened to him, that they could read it on his face. He shot a wrathful glance in the direction of Kleine Stadtgutgasse, and entered the railway station.

The station entrance was empty and half dark. Two railway workers were sweeping the floor, one on either side of the hall. On a bench at the side a man was sitting hunched over the old basket at his feet. Only one ticket booth was illuminated. Gurdweill seemed in his own eyes like someone who had arrived too early for a party, before the table had been set. It was cold in the entrance hall, and he did not have the strength to go up to the waiting room on the first floor. Pretending to be a passenger, he went up to the timetable stuck up on the wall, and studied it for a while without seeing a thing. Then he went up to the ticket booth and asked the clerk what time the train left for Aspang, though only God knew why.

The clerk replied with open annoyance, as if his honour had in some way been impugned: ‘The trains to Aspang depart from Aspangbahn, in the third district, not from here! This is Nordbahnhof!’

‘And when does the train leave from there — if you would be kind enough to tell me?’

‘They’ll tell you there!’

Because of this silly mistake he could no longer remain here in the guise of a passenger waiting for his train. From now on the clerk would no doubt keep a strict watch on him. He even felt obliged, for a moment, to actually go to the other station, as if he really had to take a train to Aspang … In any case he turned away from the ticket booth and went straight to the door, as if to show the clerk that he was obeying his instructions to the letter, and without a moment’s delay.