"No, madame. I only arrived yesterday from the country."
"You came with your parents?"
"No, madame, alone. I have neither father nor mother."
"You are very young to travel by yourself. You have come on business?"
"Yes, madame. I have come to present a petition to the tzarina."
"You are an orphan. It is some injustice or wrong you complain of? What is your name?"
"I am the daughter of Captain Mironoff, and it is for mercy I have come to ask."
"Captain Mironoff? He commanded one of the forts in the Orenburg district?"
"Yes, madame."
The lady seemed moved.