Muller breathed a deep breath before he continued his reading.
Later on his breath came more quickly still, and he clinched his
fist several times, as if deeply moved. He was not a cold man,
only thoroughly self-controlled. In his breast there lived an
unquenchable hatred of all evil. It was this that awakened the
talents which made him the celebrated detective he had become.

"I fear that it will be impossible for any one to save me now, but
perhaps I may be avenged. Therefore I will write down here all
that has happened to me since I set out on my journey." These were
the first words that were written under the mysterious title. Muller
had just read them when the commissioner entered.

"Will you speak to Amster; he has just returned?" he asked.

Muller rose at once. "Certainly. Did you telegraph to all the
railway stations?"

"Yes," answered the commissioner, "and also to the other police
stations."

"And to the hospitals? - asylums?"

"No, I did not do that." Commissioner von Mayringen blushed, a
blush that was as becoming to him as was his frank acknowledgment
of his mistake. He went out to remedy it at once, while Muller
heard Amster's short and not particularly important report. The
workingman was evidently shivering, and the detective handed him a
glass of tea with a good portion of rum in it.