“Before I can entirely tell you, I must ask a few questions, to which I must have frank and truthful answers.”
“Having nothing at stake,” said Paul, “I have no inducement to lie.”
“You are a Russian by birth?”
“I am.”
“Your father abandoned you in this city years ago, returned to Russia, and you have not heard from him since?”
Paul jumped up. “How do you know all this?”
“Sit down and calm yourself,” soothingly said the man of law. “I mean you naught but good.”
“Well, go on,” said the impatient fellow.
“He returned to his native land in the hope of recovering his ancestral estates, and was grievously disappointed, tricked and hounded for years. At last he won the great battle, and died.