Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/89

 METROPOLIS He laid the third bundle of banknotcs on the table. He looked at Josaphat. Josaphat's reddened eyes devoured In.. Josaphat's hands fumbled across blindly and seized the three brown wads. His teeth showed white under his lips; while his fingers tore the notes to shreds, they seemed to be biting them

to death. Slim shook his head. 'That's of. no account," he said undisturbedly. "I have a cheque-book here, some of the blank leaves of which bear the signature, Joh Fredersen. Let us write a sum on the first leaf-a sum the double of the amount

agreed upon up to now.... Well, Josaphat?" "I will not-I" said the other, shaken from head to foot. Slim smiled. "No," he said. "Not yet. ... But very soon...." Josaphat did not answer. He was staring at the piece of paper, white, printed and written on, which lay before him on the blue-black table. He did not see the figure upon it. He only saw the name upon it: Joh Fredersen. . The signature, as though written with the blade of an axe:

Joh Fredersen. Josaphat turned his head this way and that as though he felt the blade of the axe at his neck. "No," he croaked. "No, no, no.... '"

"Not enough yet?" asked Slim. "Yes'" said he in a mutter. "YesI It is enough," Slim got up. Something which he had drawn from his pocket with the bundles of banknotes. without his having noticed it, slid down from his knees. . It was a black cap, such as the workmen in Joh Fredersen's works used to wear.... A howl escaped Josaphat's lips. He threw himself down

on both knees. He seized the black cap in both hands. He snatched it to his mouth. He stared at Slim. He jerked himself up. He sprang, like a stag before the pack, to gain the door. But Slim got there before him. With a mighty leap he sprang across table and div:m, rebounded against the door and stood before Josaphat. For the fraction of a second they

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