Produced by Chris Curnow, Lindy Walsh and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net A SHEAF OF CORN BY THE SAME AUTHOR ROSE AT HONEYPOT THE PATTEN EXPERIMENT OLIVIA'S SUMMER A LOST ESTATE THE PARISH OF HILBY THE PARISH NURSE GRAN'MA'S JANE MRS. PETER HOWARD A WINTER'S TALE ONE ANOTHER'S BURDENS THERE WAS ONCE A PRINCE WHEN ARNOLD COMES HOME MOONLIGHT THE MATING OF A DOVE THE FIELDS OF DULDITCH AMONG THE SYRINGAS SUSANNAH THE EGLAMORE PORTRAITS THE MEMORIES OF RONALD LOVE A SHEAF OF CORN BY MARY E. MANN "I WENT A PILGRIM THROUGH THE UNIVERSE, AND COMMUNED OFT WITH STRANGERS AS I STRAYED, IN EVERY CORNER SOME ADVANTAGE FOUND, AND FROM EACH SHEAF OF CORN I DREW A BLADE." METHUEN & CO. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON _First Published in 1908_ CONTENTS PAGE WOMEN O' DULDITCH 1 CLOMAYNE'S CLERK 15 IN A TEA-SHOP 33 A CHALK-MARK ON A GATE--Part I 51 A CHALK-MARK ON A GATE--Part II 63 "AS 'TWAS TOLD TO ME" 77 FREDDY'S SHIP 91 A NERVE CURE 109 THE PRIVATE WARD 135 DORA OF THE RINGOLETS 153 PINK CARNATIONS 167 A LITTLE WHITE DOG 183 IT ANSWERED 195 TO BERTHA IN BOMBAY 209 AUNTIE 223 WILLY AND I 243 A BROKEN BOOT 255 WHEN DEEP SLEEP FALLETH 267 THE EXCELLENT JOYS OF YOUTH 283 CARES OF A CURATE 297 A SHEAF OF CORN WOMEN O' DULDITCH Dinah Brome stood in the village shop, watching, with eyes keen to detect the slightest discrepancy in the operation, the weighing of her weekly parcels of grocery. She was a strong, wholesome-looking woman of three- or four-and-forty, with a clean, red skin, clear eyes, dark hair, crinkling crisply beneath her sober, respectable hat. All her clothes were sober and respectable, and her whole mien. No one would have guessed from it that she had not a shred of character to her back. The knowledge of this incontrovertible fact did not influence the demeanour of the shop-woman towards her. There was not better pay in the village, nor a more constant customer than Dinah Brome. In such circumstances, Mrs Littleproud was not the woman to throw stones.