



Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive






Transcriber's Notes:

1. Page scan source:
   http://www.archive.org/details/undyingpast00sudegoog

2. The diphthong oe is represented by [oe].






                            THE UNDYING PAST






                          _By the Same Author_

                   REGINA: OR THE SINS OF THE FATHERS

                             Translated by

                           Beatrice Marshall

                      Crown 8vo.    Third Edition.






                                  THE
                                UNDYING
                                  PAST


                                   BY
                           HERMANN SUDERMANN




                            _TRANSLATED BY_
                          _BEATRICE MARSHALL_




                   LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
                  NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY. MDCCCCVI






          WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES






                            THE UNDYING PAST






                            THE UNDYING PAST




                                   I


The  mid-day sun beat fiercely on the much-trodden square in front of a
provincial railway station. The old white mare nodded drowsily between
the shafts of the yellow mailcart which rattled down from the little
town to meet every train. Two or three hotel omnibuses, painted
brownish-grey, with mud-splashed wheels, also came clattering down the
dusty boulevard, at the other end of which rose two stucco towers with
their vanes piercing the deep blue of the July sky.

A clanging bell had already signalled the train's departure from the
neighbouring station. The station-master put on his red cap, the
barmaid began to wipe with a duster the glass case protecting the
cheese and other viands, and