Title:  God’s Good Man

Author:  Marie Corelli

Release Date:  November, 2003 [Etext #4653] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 21, 2002]

Edition:  10

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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GOD’S GOOD MAN

A Simple Love Story

By Marie Corelli

Author of “The treasure of heaven,” “Thelma,” “A romance of two
worlds,” “The master Christian,” Etc.

To

The living original

Of

“The reverend John Walden”

And his wife

This simple love story

Is

Affectionately dedicated

“There was A man sent from god whose name was John.” 
                                   New testament

GOD’S GOOD MAN

I

It was May-time in England.

The last breath of a long winter had blown its final farewell across the hills,—­the last frost had melted from the broad, low-lying fields, relaxing its iron grip from the clods of rich, red-brown earth which, now, soft and broken, were sprouting thick with the young corn’s tender green.  It had been a hard, inclement season.  Many a time, since February onward, had the too-eagerly pushing buds of trees and shrubs been nipped by cruel cold,—­many a biting east wind had withered the first pale green leaves of the lilac and the hawthorn,—­and the stormy caprices of a chill northern.  Spring had played havoc with all the dainty woodland blossoms