Chapter 23
Arson or Accident?The little Christian community at Glastonia had been growing steadily. The rains had raised the level of the marshes surrounding the island to such an extent that the flowering reed beds, so much a feature of the place, were almost submerged. Paulus alluded to the great deluge at the time of Noah and exhorted his little flock to consider the implications. On the final day when the dark clouds were rolling away to the west, a magnificent rainbow spanned the sky and all their spirits lifted.
Martha, weary of plodding about in the mud, with the sky weighing grey and heavy day after day, longed for the warm and sunny climate of her childhood. She pleaded with her grandfather for their return, reminding him that the terrible persecutions of Nero were over, and the
