Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/63

 METROPOLIS "If you have corne to betray us, son of Joh Fredersen. then you will have but little blessing from it," she said softly, but in a clear voice. He stood up and remained standing before her. "Is that all the faith you have in meP" he asked gravely. She said nothing, but looked at him. Her eyes filled with tears. ''You ..." said the man. "What shall I call yauP I do not know your name. I have always called you just 'you: In all the bad days and worse nights, for I did not know if I should find you again, I always called you only, 'you.' ... Will you tell me, at last, what your name is?" «Maria," answered the girl. UMaria. . . . That should be your name. . . you did not

make it easy for me to find my way to you, Maria."

"And why did you seek your way to meP And why do you wear the blue linen uniform? Those condemned to wear it all their life long, live in an underground city, which is accounted a wonder of the world in all the five continents. It is an architectural wonder-that is true. It is light and shining

bright and a model of tidiness. It lacks nothing but the sunand the rain-and the moon by night-nothing but the sky. That is why the children which are born there have their gnome-like faces. . . . Do you want go down into this city under the earth in order the more to enjoy your dwelling which lies so high above the great Metropolis, in the light of the sky? Are you wearing the uniform, which· you have on to-day, for funP" "No, Maria. I shall always wear it now.... "As Joh Fredersen's son?" "He no longer has a son . . . unless-you, yourself, give him back his son." (Behind them, in a vault that was shaped like a pointed deviJ's·ear, one man's hand was laid upon another man's mouth. "It is written," whispered a laugh: «Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife .. .")

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