E-text prepared by David Garcia and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Kentuckiana Digital Library (http://kdl.kyvl.org/) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 24093-h.htm or 24093-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/0/9/24093/24093-h/24093-h.htm) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/0/9/24093/24093-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Kentuckiana Digital Library. See http://kdl.kyvl.org/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=kyetexts;cc=kyetexts;xc=1&idno=b92-201-30752164&view=toc THE ROOT OF EVIL A Novel by THOMAS DIXON Author of "The Leopard's Spots," "The Clansman," "The One Woman," Etc. Illustrated by George Wright [Illustration: "_He turned and saw Nan_"] Garden City New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1911 All Rights Reserved, Including That of Translation into Foreign Languages, Including the Scandinavian Copyright, 1911. by Thomas Dixon Published, January, 1912 DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER THE REVEREND THOMAS DIXON 1820-1909 CONTENTS BOOK I--THE SEED CHAPTER PAGE I. A Star Boarder 3 II. Things Beyond Price 15 III. A Lovers' Quarrel 20 IV. Mr. Bivens Calls 33 V. An Issue is Forced 41 VI. The Forgotten Man 48 VII. A Vision 57 VIII. Struggle 64 IX. Despair 82 X. Groping 90 XI. Illumination 96 BOOK II--THE ROOT I. An Old Perfume 110 II. An Intruder 123 III. A Straight Tip 127 IV. Every Man's Shadow 133 V. Gathering Clouds 143 VI. The Storm Breaks 153 VII. At the King's Command 162 VIII. A Ray of Sunlight 168 IX. Beneath the Skin 174 X. The Demigod 184 XI. The Lamp of Aladdin 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