Demian
felt I had arrived at the place to which I had been called. I glanced
around, close to my mattress was another, on which someone was lying,
someone who bent over and looked at me. It was Max Demian.
I could not speak, and he either could not or would not. He only looked
at me. A lamp which hung over him on the wall cast a light on his face.
He smiled at me.
For what seemed an immeasurably long time he gazed unwaveringly into my
eyes. Slowly he inclined his face towards me, until we almost touched.
“Sinclair!” he said in a whisper.
I signaled to him with my eyes that I understood him.
He smiled again, almost as if in compassion.
“Little one!” he said, smiling.
His mouth lay now quite close to mine. Softly he continued to speak.
“Can you still remember Frank Kromer?” he asked.
I winked at him, and could even manage to smile.
“Sinclair, old man, listen: I shall have to go away. Perhaps you will
need me once again, on account of Kromer, or something. When you call
me, I shall not come riding on a horse, or in a train. You must hearken
to the voice inside you, then you will notice it is I, that I am in
you. Do you understand? And one other thing: Mother Eve said that if
ever you were ill I was to give you a kiss from her, which she gave
me.... Close your eyes, Sinclair!”
I obediently closed my eyes. I felt a light kiss on my lips, on which
there was a trace of blood, which never seemed to stop flowing. And
then I fell asleep.
In the morning I was awakened to have my wounds dressed. When at last
I was properly awake, I turned quickly to the mattress by my side. A
stranger lay upon it, a man on whom I had never before set eyes.
The bandaging hurt me. All that has happened to me since hurt me. But
my soul is like a mysterious, locked house. And when I find the key
and step right down into myself, to where the pictures painted by my
destiny seem reflected on the dark mirror of my soul, then I need
only stoop towards the black mirror and see my own picture, which now
completely resembles Him, my guide and friend.
THE END
Transcriber’s Notes
Perceived typographical errors have been silently corrected.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.