Transcriber's Notes: 1. Page scan source: https://books.google.com/books?id=K8IsAAAAYAAJ (Princeton University) [Front cover] _The Crimson_ CRYPTOGRAM A Detective Story By FERGUS HUME _Author of "The Mystery of a Hansom Cab," "The Dwarf's Chamber," Etc_. New Amsterdam Book Company 156 Fifth Avenue: New York: 1902 CONTENTS CHAP. I. A Midnight Surprise. II. The Writing in Blood. III. An Open Verdict. IV. The Reading of the Blood Signs. V. Mrs. Moxton seeks Counsel. VI. A Fresh Discovery. VII. What the Cabman knew. VIII. A Music-Hall Star. IX. The Austrian. X. A Strange Denial. XI. A Half Confession. XII. Mr. Busham, Solicitor. XIII. Mrs. Moxton's Surrender. XIV. The Pimlico House. XV. What Mrs. Amber knew. XVI. Another Mystery. XVII. A Life History. XVIII. What Really Happened. XIX. The Red Pocket-Book. XX. Busham at Bay. XXI. The Blind Girl. XXII. Janet's Discovery. XXIII. The Beginning of the End. XXIV. The Truth. XXV. A Confession, XXVI. The End of the Story.. The Crimson Cryptogram CHAPTER I A MIDNIGHT SURPRISE "Poverty, naked and unconcealed! One can endure that, with some patience, as a beaten soldier in the battle of life. But genteel pauperism--the semi-poverty of the middle-class, that lives a necessary lie at the cost of incessant worry and constant defeat--there you have the true misery of life. Believe me, Cass, there is no torture like that of an ambition which cannot be attained for lack of money." "I did not know you were ambitious, Ellis." "Not of setting the Thames on fire. My desires are limited to a good practice, a moderate income, a home, and a wife to love me. These wishes are reasonable enough, Heaven knows, yet some cursed Fate prevents their realisation. And I have to sit down and wait; a doctor can do nothing else. I must listen with such philosophy as I have for the ring of the door bell to announce my first patient, and the ring never comes. The heart grows sick, the brain rusty, the money goes, the temper sours, and so I pass the best days of my life." "All things come to him who knows how to wait," said Cass, knocking the ashes out of a well-smoked briar. "And the horse is the noblest of all animals," retorted Ellis. "I never _did_ find consolation in proverbs of that class."