Page:Thea von Harbou Metropolis eng 1927.pdf/98

 METROPOLIS "You two poor children'" he said. «to have dared to pit yourselves against Joh Fredersenl Nobody can reproach you for it; you do not know ~ and do not know what you are doing. But the son should know the father. I do not helieve that there is ODe man who can boast ever having got the better of Joh Fredersen. You could more easily bend to your will the inscrutable God, who is smd to rule the world, than Joh Fredersen...." . The girl sat like a statue, immovable. "What will you do, Maria, if Joh Fredersen takes you and your love so seriously that he comes to you and says: "Give me back my son'" The girl sat like a statue. immovable. "He will ask you: 'Of what value is my son to yauP' and if you are wise you will answer him: 'Of no more and of no less value than he is to youl ....' He will pay the price, and it will be a high price. for Joh Fredersen has only one son... :' The girl sat like a statue, immovable. "What do you know of Freder's heartP" continued the man. "He is as young as the morning at sunrise. This heart of the young morning is yours. Where will it be at midday? And where at evening? Far away from you, Maria-far, far, away. The world is very large and the earth is very fair. . . . His father will send him around the world. Out over the beautiful earth he will forget you, Maria, before the clock of his heart is at midday:' The girl sat like a statue, immovable. But around her pale mouth, which was like the bud of a snowrose, a smile began to bloom-a smile of such sweetness, of such depths, that it seemed as though the air about the girl must begin to beam. The man looked at the girl. His lonely eyes were starved and parched as the desert which does not know the dew. In a hoarse voice he went on: "Where do you get your sainted con6dence from? Doyou believe that you are Freder's fust love? Have you forgotten the 'Club of the Sons: MariaP There are a hundred women there-and all are his! These loving little warnell could all tell you about Freder's love, for they know more about it than you do, and you have only one advantage over

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