But now it was not a time for work, rather a time for preparation.

What could he do in order to get through these days?
Or what could he do in order to keep the days from flying so quickly?
Look how a flash of lightning seems sometimes to pass over the floor.

Then it is gone again.

High up in the opposite wall, on which the sun sometimes shone, was a casement window, and its glass doors, swayed by the breeze, were reflected in the prison.
Konrad was terrified by these sparks from heaven; he would grope on the ground as if for a gold piece that had rolled away.
Then came visitors, unexpected, alarming visitors! The judge's stiff figure and serious face appeared in company with the gaoler.
Konrad felt stunned, and could only think: "The hour has come!" The man had pronounced his sentence as coldly and unfeelingly as if he had been a machine which, when its keys are pressed, gives forth sounds like words.

The judge ordered the gaoler to withdraw.