Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/132

 METROPOLIS It was an immeasurably glorious and transporting sound. deep and rumbling as, and more powerful than any sound on earth. The voice of the ocean when it is angry, the voice of falling torrents, the voice' of very close thunder storms, would be miserably drowned in this Behemoth din. Without being shrill, it peneh'ated all walls, and, as long as it lasted, all things seemed to swing in it. It was omnipresent, coming from the heights and from the depths, being beautiful and horrible. being an irresistible command. It was high above the town. It was the voice of the town. Metropolis raised her voice. The machines of Metropolis roared: They wanted to be fed. The eyes of Josaphat and Freder met. "Now," said Josaphat, «many are going down into a city of the dead, and are waiting for one who is called Maria, and whom they have found as true as gold... ," "Yesl" said Freder, "you are a friend. and you are quite right.... I shall go with them ...." And. for the first time this night, there was something like hope in the ring of his voice. 8S

CHAPTER XII one hour after midnight. Joh Fredersen came to his mother's house. It was a farmhouse, one~storied, thatch~roofed, overshadowed by a walnut tree and it stood upon the Bat back of one of the stone giants, not far from the cathedral. A garden full of lilies and hollyhocks, full of sweet peas and poppies and nasturtiums. wound itself about the house. Joh Fredersen's mother had only one son and him she had very dearly loved. But the Master over the great Metropolis. the Master of the machine~city, the Brain of the New Tower of Babel had become a stranger to her and she hostile to him. She had had to look on once and see how one of Joh IT WAS

137