Following that, the lodger actually went with long strides
immediately out into the hall. His two friends had already been
listening for a while with their hands quite still, and now they
hopped smartly after him, as if afraid that Mr. Samsa could step
into the hall ahead of them and disturb their reunion with their
leader. In the hall all three of them took their hats from the coat
rack, pulled their canes from the cane holder, bowed silently, and
left the apartment. In what turned out to be an entirely groundless
mistrust, Mr. Samsa stepped with the two women out onto the
landing, leaned against the railing, and looked over as the three
lodgers slowly but steadily made their way down the long staircase,
disappeared on each floor in a certain turn of the stairwell, and
in a fe
