METROPOLIS Copper-red, in the black wood of the door, glowed the seal of Solomon, the pentagram. Freder knocked. Nothing in the house stirred. He knocked for the second time. The house remained dull and obstinate. He stepped back and looked up at the windows. They looked out in their evil gloom, over and beyond him. He went to the door again. He beat against it with his fists. He heard the echo of his drumming blows sbake the house, as in dull laughter. But the copper Solomon's seal grinned at him from the unshaken door. He stood still for a moment. His temples throbbed. He felt absolutely helpless and was as neor crying as swearing. Then he heard a voice-the voice of his beloved. "Feeder-I" and once more: "Freder-I" He saw blood before his eyes. He made to throw himself with the full weight of his shoulders against the door. . . . But in that same moment the door opened noiselessly. It swung back in ghostly silence, leaving the way into the house absolutely free. That was so unexpected and alarming that, in the midst of the swing which was to have thrown him against the door, Freder caught both his hands against the door-posts, and stood fixed there. He buried his teetb in his lips. The heart of the house was as black as midnight.... But the voice of Maria called to him from the heart of the house: «Freder-I Freder-I" He ran into the house as though he had gone blind. The door fell to behind him. He stood in blackness. He called. He received no answer. He saw nothing. He groped. He felt walls-endless walls . . . Steps . . . He climbed up the steps.... A pale redness swam about him like the reflection of a distant gloomy fire. Suddenly-he stopped still, clawing his hand into the stonework behind him-a sound was coming out of the
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