METROPOLIS "Maria....'" She turned around, hlissfully startled. Was it possible that he had come back. "Freder-I" she called. She listened. No answer.
"Freder-I" Nothing. But suddenly there came a cOQ} draught of air which made the hair at her neck quiver, and a hand of snow ran down her hack.
There came an agonized sigh-a sigh which would not come to an end. . ..
The girl stood still. The bright little lamp which she held in her hand let its gleam play tremblingly about her feet. "Freder.... i'" Now her voice, too, was only a whisper.
No answer. But, behind her, in the depths of the passage she would have to pass through, a gentle, gliding slink became perceptible: feet in soft shoes on rough stones.. .. That was. ... yes, that was strange. Nobody, apart from her, ever came this way. Nobody could be here. And, if somebody were here. then it was no friend. ... Certainly nobody whom she wanted to meet.
Should she let him by?-yes. A second passage opened to her left. She did not know it well. But she would not follow it up. She would only wait in it until the man outside-the man behind her-had gone b}h She pressed herself againt the wall of the strange passage. keeping still and waiting quite silently. She did not breath. She had extinguished the lamp. She stood in utter darkness, immovable. She listened: the gliding feet were approaching. They walked in darkness as she stood in darkness. Now they were here. Now they must. .. . they must go past. .. . But they did not go. They stood quite still. Before the opening to the passage in which she stood. the feet stopped still and seemed to wait. For what... ? For her... ?
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