Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/175

 METROPOLIS Train upon train, witP carriages thundering along, all lights burning and on full power, had rushed along the rails, lashed hy the hawling of the mob, had fallen upon each other, had become mixed and piled up together, had bumt down and were now lying, half-melted, still smouldering, a mass of ruins. And one,. single lamp, remaining undamaged, threw the shaft of fts sharp, corrosive light over the chaos, from the steel breast of the hindmost engine. But Maria knew nothing of all this. She did not need to know. Sufficient for her that the door, which was the only means of deliverance for her and the children she wanted to save, remained inexorable, immovable, and finally, with bleed~ ing hands and shoulders, with battered head, and feet crippled with numbness, she was obliged to resign herself to the incomprehensible, to the murderous. She raised her face to the ray of light which fell upon her. The words of a little, childish prayer, now no longer intelligible, ran through her head. She dropped her head and sat down on the stairs. The children stood in silence, crow~ed closely together, under the curse of something which, though they could not understand it, was very close above them. "Little brothers, little sisters," said Maria's voice, very aHectionately, "can you an understand what I am saying?" ''Yes:' Hoated up from the children. "The door is closed.... We must wait a little.... Someone is sure to come and open it for us. Will you be patient and not be frightened?" "Yes," came an answer, as a sigh. "Sit down as well as you can... :' The children obeyed. "1 am going to tell you a story," said Maria.

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