Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/92

 METROPOLIS He looked for Maria, who was to have waited for him on the belfry steps; hut he could not find her. He wandered through the cathedral, which seemed to. be quite empty of people. Once he stopped. He was standing opposite Death. The ghostly minstrel stood in a side·n.iche, carved in wood. in hat and wide cloak, scythe on shoulder. the hour-glass dangling from his girdle; and the minstrel was playing on a bone as though all a Hute. The Seven Deadly Sins were his following. Freder looked Death in the face. Then he said: "If you had come earlier you would not have frightened me. . . . Now I pray you: Keep away from me and my beloved'" But the awful flute-player seemed to be listening to nothing but the song he was playing upon a bone. Freder walked on. He came to the central nave. Before the high altar, over which hovered God Incarnate, a dark form lay stretched out upon the stones, hands clutching out to each side, face pressed into the coldness of the stone, as though the blocks must burst asunder under the pressure of the brow. The form wore the garment of a monk, the head was shaven. An incessant .trembling shook the lean body from shoulder to heel. and it seemed to be stiffened as though in a cramp. But suddenly the body reared up. A white Bame sprang up: a face; black Barnes within it: two blazing eyes. A hand rose up, clutching high in the air towards the crucifix. which hovered above the altar. A voice spoke, like the voice of 6re: "I will not let thee go, God, God, except thou hless mel" The echo of the pillars yelled the words after him. The son of Joh Fredersen had never seen the man before. He knew, however, as soon as the Rame~white face unveiled the black Barnes of its eyes to him: it was Desertus the monk, his father's enemy.... Perhaps his breath had become too loud. Suddenly the black Rame struck across at him. The monk arose slowly. He did not say a word. He stretched out his hand. The hand indicated the door.

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