The flight of the chief clerk seemed, unfortunately, to put Gregor's father into a panic as well. Until then he had been relatively self controlled, but now, instead of running after the chief clerk himself, or at least not impeding Gregor as he ran after him, Gregor's father seized the chief clerk's stick in his right hand (the chief clerk had left it behind on a chair, along with his hat and overcoat), picked up a large newspaper from the table with his left, and used them to drive Gregor back into his room, stamping his foot at him as he went.
Lamentablemente esta huida del apoderado pareció desconcertar del todo al padre, que hasta ahora había estado relativamente sereno, pues en lugar de perseguir él mismo al apoderado, o, al menos, no obstaculizar a Gregorio en su persecución, agarró con la mano derecha el bastón del apoderado, que aquél había dejado sobre la silla junto con el sombrero y el gabán; tomó con la mano izquierda un gran periódico que había sobre la mesa y, dando patadas en el suelo, comenzó a hacer retroceder a Gregorio a su habitación blandiendo el bastón y el periódico.