"it is plain to me, that you are not in it at all," he continued, at last, a little less vaguely, "but perhaps you had better not come to our house for a little while. i ask you in the friendliest manner, mind; just till the wind changes again. as for evgenie pavlovitch," he continued with some excitement, "the whole thing is a calumny, a dirty calumny. it is simply a plot, an intrigue, to upset our plans and to stir up a quarrel. you see, prince, i’ll tell you privately, evgenie and ourselves have not said a word yet, we have no formal understanding, we are in no way bound on either side, but the word may be said very soon, don’t you see, very soon, and all this is most injurious, and is meant to be so. why? i’m sure i can’t tell you. she’s an extraordinary woman, you see, an eccentric woman; i tell you i am so frightened of that woman that i can’t sleep. what a carriage that was, and where did it come from, eh? i declare, i was base enough to suspect evgenie at first; but it seems certain that that cannot be the case, and if so, why is she interfering here? that’s the riddle, what does she want? is it to keep evgenie to herself? but, my dear fellow, i swear to you, i swear he doesn’t even know her, and as for those bills, why, the whole thing is an invention! and the familiarity of the woman! it’s quite clear we must treat the impudent creature’s attempt with disdain, and redouble our courtesy towards evgenie. i told my wife so.