METROPOLIS "The people still sat motionless. " 'Good night, ladies and gentlemenl' said the old man... :' Jan was silent. He took his hat from his head. He wiped his forehead. "A dancer," said Freder, with cold lips, "but a spirit ... P" "Not a spiritl I will tell you another story ... A man and a woman, of fifty and forty, rich and very happy, have a son. You know him. but I will not mention any names ... «The son sees the girl. He is as- though mad. He storms the house. He storms the girl's father: 'Let me have herl I am dying for herl' The old man smiles, shrugs his shoulders, is silent, is exceedingly sorry. the girl is not to be attained. "The young man wants to lay hands on the old man. but he is whirled out of the house and thrown into the street, by he does not know whom. He is taken home. He falls ill and is at Death's door. The doctors shrug their shoulders. "The father, who is a proud but kindly man, and who loves his son above anything on earth, makes up his mind to visit the old man, himself. He gains entrance to the house without difficulty. He finds the old man, and with him, the girl. He says to the girl: 'Save my son!' "The girl looks at bini and says, with the most graciously inhuman of smiles: 'You have no son .. : "He does not understand the meaning of tllese words. He wants to know more. He urges the girl. She always gives the same answer. He urges the old man-he lifts his shoulders. There is a perfidious smile about his mouth .•.. "Suddenly the man comprehends. . . . He goes home. He repeats the girl's words to his wife. She breaks down and confesses her sin-a sin which, after twenty years, has not yet died down. But she is not concerned with her own fate. She has no thought apart from her son. Shame, desertion, loneliness-all are nothing; but the son is everything. "She goes to the girl and falls on her knees before her: 'I beg you, in the name of God's mercy, save my son 1' The girl looks at her, smiles and says: 'You have no son
- The
woman believes that she has a lunatic before her. But the girl
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