"oh, i heard that much, my dear fellow! but the thing is so impossibly absurd! a man of property like evgenie to give iou’s to a money-lender, and to be worried about them! it is ridiculous. besides, he cannot possibly be on such intimate terms with nastasia philipovna as she gave us to understand; that’s the principal part of the mystery! he has given me his word that he knows nothing whatever about the matter, and of course i believe him. well, the question is, my dear prince, do you know anything about it? has any sort of suspicion of the meaning of it come across you?"