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 a couple of postmen crunched over the gravel, wheeling trucks containing letter-bags and parcels. "Not a single soul inside again," grumbled the restaurant-manager through the waiting-room window, as he watched the hotel omnibus drive up. "What is the use of keeping beer cool if nobody comes to drink it?" The barmaid nodded meditatively as she flicked the flies from a pile of stale rusks. Then there came in sight, dashing along the boulevard, an open landau drawn by a pair of spirited bays. The restaurant-host's face brightened. "The party from Stolten Court!" exclaimed he, seizing his cap. "The young gentlemen's leave is over, then." The carriage steered clear of waiting passengers with a sweeping curve as it bowled up to the station stairs.