1 He was hardly inside his room before the door was hurriedly shut, bolted and locked.
2 The maid, of course, had locked herself in her kitchen so that Grete would have to go and answer it.
3 Gregor heard how he opened the complicated lock and then closed it again after he had taken the item he wanted.
4 He rested there a little while to recover from the effort involved and then set himself to the task of turning the key in the lock with his mouth.
5 Long after he had finished eating and lay lethargic in the same place, his sister slowly turned the key in the lock as a sign to him that he should withdraw.
6 As the key turned round he turned around the lock with it, only holding himself upright with his mouth, and hung onto the key or pushed it down again with the whole weight of his body as needed.
7 Gregor, however, had no thought of opening the door, and instead congratulated himself for his cautious habit, acquired from his travelling, of locking all doors at night even when he was at home.
8 Then, out of consideration for Gregor's feelings, as she knew that he would not eat in front of her, she hurried out again and even turned the key in the lock so that Gregor would know he could make things as comfortable for himself as he liked.
9 The previous morning while the doors were locked everyone had wanted to get in there to him, but now, now that he had opened up one of the doors and the other had clearly been unlocked some time during the day, no-one came, and the keys were in the other sides.