Some moments afterwards she found herself in the chief square in the presence of Ivan Ogareff, to whom all the details of this scene had been immediately reported.
Ogareff, suspecting the truth, interrogated the old Siberian woman.

"Thy name ?" he asked in a rough voice.
"Marfa Strogoff." "Thou hast a son ?" "Yes." "He is a courier of the Czar ?" "Yes." "Where is he ?" "At Moscow." "Thou hast no news of him ?" "No news." "Since how long ?" "Since two months." "Who, then, was that young man whom thou didst call thy son a few moments ago at the posting-house ?" "A young Siberian whom I took for him," replied Marfa Strogoff.

"This is the tenth man in whom I have thought I recognized my son since the town has been so full of strangers.

I think I see him everywhere." "So this young man was not Michael Strogoff ?" "It was not Michael Strogoff." "Dost thou know, old woman, that I can torture thee until thou avowest the truth ?" "I have spoken the truth, and torture will not cause me to alter my words in any way." "This Siberian was not Michael Strogoff ?" asked a second time Ivan Ogareff.
"No, it was not he," replied a second time Marfa Strogoff.

"Do you think that for anything in the world I would deny a son whom God has given me ?" Ivan Ogareff regarded with an evil eye the old woman who braved him to the face.