The Case of the Registered Letter | Page 3

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This Etext prepared by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer.

The Case of the Registered Letter
by Grace Isabel Colbron and Augusta Groner

INTRODUCTION TO JOE MULLER
Joseph Muller, Secret Service detective of the Imperial Austrian police,
is one of the great experts in his profession. In personality he differs
greatly from other famous detectives. He has neither the impressive
authority of Sherlock Holmes, nor the keen brilliancy of Monsieur
Lecoq. Muller is a small, slight, plain-looking man, of indefinite age,
and of much humbleness of mien. A naturally retiring, modest
disposition, and two external causes are the reasons for Muller's
humbleness of manner, which is his chief characteristic. One cause is
the fact that in early youth a miscarriage of justice gave him several
years in prison, an experience which cast a stigma on his name and
which made it impossible for him, for many years after, to obtain
honest employment. But the world is richer, and safer, by Muller's early
misfortune. For it was this experience which threw him back on his
own peculiar talents for a livelihood, and drove him into the police
force. Had he been able to enter any other profession, his genius might
have been stunted to a mere pastime, instead of being, as now, utilised
for the public good.
Then, the red tape and bureaucratic etiquette which attaches to every
governmental department, puts the secret service men of the Imperial

police on a par with the lower ranks of the subordinates. Muller's
official rank is scarcely much higher than that of a policeman, although
kings and councillors consult him and the Police Department realises to
the full what a treasure it has in him. But official red tape, and his early
misfortune ... prevent the giving of any higher official standing to even
such a genius. Born and bred to such conditions, Muller understands
them, and his natural modesty of disposition asks for no outward
honours, asks for nothing but an income sufficient for his simple needs,
and for aid and opportunity to occupy himself in the way he most
enjoys.
Joseph Muller's character is a strange mixture. The kindest-hearted man
in the world, he is a human bloodhound when once the lure of the trail
has caught him. He scarcely eats or sleeps when the chase is on, he
does not seem to know human weakness nor fatigue, in spite of his frail
body. Once put on a case his mind delves and delves until it finds a
clue, then something awakes within him, a spirit akin to that which
holds the bloodhound