To this M.Massol said "No; for M.Cornelis, who was very observant, and who, besides, was on his guard--this is evident from his last words when he left you--would have recognized him by his voice, his glance, and his attitude.A man cannot change his height and his figure, although he may change his face."M.Massol's theory of this disguise was that the wearer had adopted it in order to gain time to get out of France, should the corpse be discovered on the day of the murder.Supposing that a description of a man with a very brown complexion and a black beard had been telegraphed in every direction, the assassin, having washed off his paint, laid aside his wig and beard, and put on other clothes, might have crossed the frontier without arousing the slightest suspicion.There was reason to believe that the pretended Rochdale lived abroad.He had spoke in English at the hotel, and the people there had taken him for an American; it was therefore presumable either that he was a native of the United States, or that he habitually resided there.The criminal was, then, a foreigner, American or English, or perhaps a Frenchman settled in America.As for the motive of so complicated a crime, it was difficult to admit that it could be robbery alone."And yet," observed the Judge of Instruction, "we do not know what the note-case carried off by the assassin contained.But," he added, "the hypothesis of robbery seems to me to be utterly routed by the fact that, while Rochdale stripped the dead man of his watch, he left a ring, which was much more valuable, on his finger.From this I conclude that he took the watch merely as a precaution to throw the police off the scent.
My supposition is that the man killed M.Cornelis for revenge.
Then the former Judge of Instruction gave me some singular examples of the resentment cherished against medical experts employed in legal cases, Procureurs of the Republic, and Presidents of Assize.
His theory was, that in the course of his practice at the bar my father might have excited resentment of a fierce and implacable kind; for he had won many suits of importance, and no doubt had made enemies of those against whom he employed his great powers.