“Do you mind my asking you some questions?”
“No, Madam, but if you ask me anything I am not allowed to answer I shall not reply.”
“How long have you been in the United States?”
“Only a few months, Madam.”
“How come you to speak English so well?”
“In my young days I shipped aboard a bark plying between Helsingfors and New York.”
“You are a Russian?”
“I am a Finlander, Madam.”
“Have you been a sailor all your life?”
“Yes, Madam. For a time I was an unimportant officer on board a battleship in the Russian Navy, until I was discovered to be a Nihilist, when I was cast into prison. I escaped last May, and came to New York.”