I called on Maître Aubin, to whom I told all that had taken place. He shook his head, and said, "Be careful.... Don't make an enemy of the Matin.... At the same time, I am sorry you sought the assistance of the Press.... The newspapers are exasperating the authorities."
I was stupefied. Whom was I to trust? Whom was I to believe?... Here was I become the sport of every wind that blew....
Not a word about the Rossignol affair was said at my trial. But, in prison, when the Dossier of the "Steinheil Affair" was at last handed to me, I discovered among the 4500 documents and the 15,000 pages composing it, some sixty pages dealing with the Rossignol clue. Below, I give the essential parts of those sixty pages, quoting accurately from the Dossier:
[Report]
Paris, November 14, 1908.
Yesterday and to-day certain newspapers have indicated as having possibly taken a part in the crime of the Impasse Ronsin, M. Rossignol, a former police inspector. It is true that a M. Rossignol was inspector in the Saint Lambert district, and that he had a bad reputation. I believe he was dismissed in May last.... I was told that Rossignol is now a traveller for a firm that sells coffee.... The examining magistrate will be at liberty to decide whether it would be useful to make an inquiry, in order to establish how the man spent his time on the night of May 30-31, 1908.
The Chief of the Sûreté
(Signed) Hamard.
(Dossier Cote 909)
[Official Report.]
November 23rd, 1908.