METROPOLIS Nothing about him betrayed that he was aware of the upheavel in the well-being and disposition of his young master, since that day in the "Chili of the Sons." But it was one of the slim. silent one's greatest secrets never to give himself away, and, although he had no entrance to the "Club of the Sons" Freder was by no means sure that the moneybacked agent of his father would be turned back by the rules of the club. He felt himself exposed, unclothed. A cruel brightness, which left nothing concealed, bathed him and everything in his workshop which was almost the most higWy situated room in Metropolis. "I wish to be quite alone," he said softly.
Silently the servants vanished, Slim went. . . . But all these doors. which closed without the least sound, could also, witho.ut the least sound, be opened again to the narrowest chink. His eyes aching, Freder fingered all the doors of his work-room. A smile, a rather bitter smile, drew down the comers of his mouth. He was a treasure which must he guarded as crown
jewels afe guarded. The son of a great father, and the only son. Really the only one-?
Really the only one-? His thoughts stopped again at the exit of the circuit and the vision was there again and the scene and the event . ... The "Club of the Sons" was. perhaps. one of the most beautiful buildings of Metropolis, and that was not so very remarkable. For fathers, for whom every revolution of a machine-wheel spelt gold. had presented this house to their sons. It was more a dish'ict than a house. It embraced theatres, picture-palaces, lecture-rooms and a library-in which, every book, printed in all the five continents, was to he foundrace tracks and stadium and the famous «Eternal Gardens." It contained very extensive dwellings for the young sons of indulgent fathers and it contained the dwellings of faultless male servants and handsome. well-trained female servants for whose training more time was requisite than for the
11
