METROPOLIS DOtlger-/ Danger-/ screamed the voice of the great city. As though by power of a thrust within. Maria ran. all at once, to the door and tore it open. The room which Jay before her, just as that which she had left, received its solitary light-and sparely enough-through the window. At the flrst glance round, the room seemed to be empty. A strong current of air, coming from an invisible source, streamed., hot and even, tIn-ough the room, bringing in the roaring of the town with renewed force. Maria stooped forward. She recognised the room. She had fun along these walls in her despairing search for a door. Thete was a door. which had neither bolt nor lock. Copperred, in the gloomy wood of the door, glowed the seal of Solomon, the pentagram. There, in the middle, was a square, the trap-doof, through which, some time ago, a period which she could not measure, she had entered the house of the great inventor. The bright square of the window fell upon the square of the door. A trap, thought the girl. She turned her head around...• Would the great Metropolis never stop roaring-? Danger-I Danger-I Danger-I roared the town. Maria took a step, then stoppeq again. There was something lying over there. 1'here was something lying there on the Hoar. Between her and the trap-door, something was lying on the Boor. It was an unrecognisable heap. It was something dark and motionless. It might be human, and was, perhaps, only a sack. But it lay there and must be passed around if one wanted to reach the trap-door. With a greater display of courage than had ever before in her life been necessary, Maria silentJy set one foot before the other. The heap 00 the Boor did not move. She stood, bending far forward, making her eyes reconnoitre, deafened by her own heart-beat and the roar of the uproar-proclaiming city. Now she saw clearly; What was lying there was a man. The mali lay on his face, legs drawn tightly to his body, as though he had gathered them to him to push himself up and had then not found any more strength to do it. One band lay thrown over his neck, and its crooked fingers spoke more
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