href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@24093@[email protected]#id_187" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">187

XII. Temptation 201 XIII. The Forbidden Land 209 XIV. An Aftermath 221 XV. Confession 230 XVI. The Unbidden Guest 235 XVII. Some Inside Facts 242 XVIII. The Dance of Death 259 XIX. The Last Illusion 272 XX. The Parting of the Ways 287 XXI. A Plea for Justice 303

Book III—The Flower

I.	The Devil Smiles	315
II.	Beside Beautiful Waters	321
III.	The Tempter's Voice	333
IV.	The Mockery of the Sun	348
V.	A Trump Card	353
VI.	Through Purple Curtains	366
VII.	The Land of the Sky	374
VIII.	The White Messenger	392
IX.	The Eyes of Pity	402
X.	An Epilogue	407

ILLUSTRATIONS

"He turned and saw Nan"	Frontispiece
	FACING PAGE
"'I was seeing a vision, little pal'"	104
"He hurled him down the steps"	180
"'I must save her. I must be cunning'"	284
"Nan looked at him in despair"	386

---

THE ROOT OF EVIL

LEADING CHARACTERS OF THE STORY

---

SCENE: New York and the Mountains of North Carolina

TIME: 1898 to 1907

---

James Stuart, a young Southerner in New York.
Nan Primrose, his fiancée.
Mrs. Primrose, her mother.
John C. Calhoun Bivens, a millionaire.
Dr. Henry Woodman, who loves his neighbour.
Harriet, his daughter.
His Majesty, the King of America.

---

THE ROOT OF EVIL

 

CHAPTER I

A STAR BOARDER

At the end of a warm spring day in New York, James Stuart sat in the open window of his room on Washington Square, smiling. With a sense of deep joy he watched the trees shake the raindrops from their new emerald robes, and the flying clouds that flecked the Western sky melt into seas of purple and gold.

A huckster turned into Fourth Street, crying:

"Straw—berries! Straw—berries!"