Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/199

 MET R 0 POL

rs

I have always, always longed for you. You have no right to leave me alone nowl I want your bandsl Give them to mel» But his groping fingers snatched into space. Footsteps were hurrying up the steps of the stone-staircase which led to the belfry. Something like anger came over Rotwang's heart. Deep in his dulled and tortured soul reposed the memory of a day upon which Hel had likewise Hed from him-to another. . . . No, don't tbiuk, don't think of it.... That was a part of his Brst existence. and it would be quite senseless to go through the same again-in the other, and, as humanity in general hoped, better world. Why was Hel Heeing from' him? He groped along after her. Climbed up stairs upon stairs. The hastening, frightened footsteps remained constantly before him. And the higher the woman before him Bed, the more wildly did his heart beat in this mighty ascent, the redder did Rotwang's eyes become filled with blood, the more fW'iously did his anger boil up within him. She should not run away from him-she should notl If only he could catch her by the hand he would never, never let her go again I He would forge a ring about her wrist with his metal hand-and then she should never try to escape him again .... to anotherl They had both reached the belfry. They raced along under the bells. He blocked the way to the stairs. He laughed, sadly and evilly. "Hel. my HeI, you can no longer escape me'" She made a swift, despairing leap, and hung on the rope of the bell which was called Saint Michael. Saint Michael raised his ore voice, but it sounded as though broken, complaining wildly. Rotwang's laughter mingled with the sound of the bell. His metal arm, the marvellous achievement of a genius, stretched, like the phantoD arm of a skeleton, far out on the sleeve of his coat, and snatched at the bell-rope. "Hel, my Hel, you can no longer escape me'" The girl staggered back against the breastwork. She looked around. She was trembling like a bird. She could not go down the stairs. Neither could she go any higher. She was trapped. She saw Rotwang's eyes and saw his hands. And,

204