The costume of the young traveler was both extremely simple and appropriate.

She was not rich--that could be easily seen; but not the slightest mark of negligence was to be discerned in her dress.

All her luggage was contained in the leather bag which, for want of room, she held on her lap.
She wore a long, dark pelisse, gracefully adjusted at the neck by a blue tie.

Under this pelisse, a short skirt, also dark, fell over a robe which reached the ankles.

Half-boots of leather, thickly soled, as if chosen in anticipation of a long journey, covered her small feet.
Michael Strogoff fancied that he recognized, by certain details, the fashion of the costume of Livonia, and thought his neighbor a native of the Baltic provinces.
But whither was this young girl going, alone, at an age when the fostering care of a father, or the protection of a brother, is considered a matter of necessity?
Had she now come, after an already long journey, from the provinces of Western Russia?
Was she merely going to Nijni-Novgorod, or was the end of her travels beyond the eastern frontiers of the empire?
Would some relation, some friend, await her arrival by the train?
Or was it not more probable, on the contrary, that she would find herself as much isolated in the town as she was in this compartment?
It was probable.
In fact, the effect of habits contracted in solitude was clearly manifested in the bearing of the young girl.