At the first opportunity he frankly questioned M.Roussillon, with no helpful result.

The big Frenchman told the same meager story.

The woman was dying in the time of a great epidemic, which killed most of her tribe.
She gave Alice to M.Roussillon, but told him not a word about her ancestry or previous life.

That was all.
A wise old man, when he finds himself in a blind alley, no sooner touches the terminal wall than he faces about and goes back the way he came.

Under like circumstances a young man must needs try to batter the wall down with his head.