THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL BY J. S. FLETCHER NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO SIR WILLIAM ROBERTSON NICOLL WITH MUCH GRATITUDE CONTENTS Part the First: RISE I APPLECROFT 11 II THE TIGHT LIP 23 III THE BROKEN MAN 35 IV THE DIPLOMATIC FATHER 47 V THE SHAKESPEARE LINE 59 VI THE GLOVES OFF 71 VII THE GOLDEN TEAPOT 83 VIII THE BATTLE BEGINS 95 IX THE IRON ROD 107 X THE ETERNAL FEMININE 119 XI HUMBLE PIE 131 XII THE TRIPLE CHANCE 142 XIII DEAD MEN'S SHOES 153 Part the Second: FALL I AVARICE 165 II THE BIT OF BAD LAND 177 III COAL 189 IV BIRDS OF A FEATHER 201 V THE YORKSHIRE WAY 213 VI OBSESSION 225 VII THE LAST THROW 237 VIII THE COMMINATION SERVICE 248 IX THE BELL RINGS 260 X BLACK DEPTHS 271 XI THE SENTENCE 283 XII THE SECOND EXODUS 294 XIII THE LUSTRE JUG 307 _Part the First: RISE_ CHAPTER I _Applecroft_ Half-way along the one straggling street of Savilestowe a narrow lane suddenly opened out between the cottages and turned abruptly towards the uplands which rose on the northern edge of the village. Its first course lay between high grey walls, overhung with ivy and snapdragon. When it emerged from their cool shadowings the church came in view on one hand and the school on the other, each set on its own green knoll and standing high above the meadows. Once past these it became narrower and more tortuous; the banks on either side rose steeply, and were crowned by ancient oaks and elms. In the proper season of the year these banks were thick with celandine and anemone, and the scent of hedge violets rose from the moss among the spreading roots of the trees. Here the ruts of the lane were deep, as if no man had any particular business to repair them. The lane was, in fact, a mere occupation road, and led to nothing but an out-of-the-way farmstead, which stood, isolated and forlorn, half a mile from the village. It bore a picturesque name--Applecroft--and an artist, straying by chance up the lane and coming suddenly upon it would have rejoiced in its queer gables, its twisted chimneys, in the beeches and chestnuts that towered above it, and in the old-world garden and orchard which flanked one side of its brick walls, mellowed by time to the colour of claret. But had such a pilgrim looked closer he would have seen that here were all the marks of ill-fortune and coming ruin--evident, at any rate, to practical eyes in the neglected gates and fences, in the empty fold, in the hingeless, tumble-down doors, in the lack of that stitch in time which by anticipation would have prevented nine more. He would have seen, in short, that this was one of those places, of which there are so many in rural England, whereat a feckless man, short of money, was vainly