's IOU's--Rogojin has bought them up. I persuaded him
to!--I dare say we shall settle Biscup too, so it's all right, you
see! Au revoir, tomorrow! And don't worry!" The carriage moved on, and
disappeared.

"The woman's mad!" cried Evgenie, at last, crimson with anger, and
looking confusedly around. "I don't know what she's talking about! What
IOU's? Who is she?" Mrs. Epanchin continued to watch his face for a
couple of seconds; then she marched briskly and haughtily away towards
her own house, the rest following her.

A minute afterwards, Evgenie Pavlovitch reappeared on the terrace, in
great agitation.

"Prince," he said, "tell me the truth; do you know what all this means?"

"I know nothing whatever about it!" replied the latter, who was,
himself, in a state of nervous excitement.

"No?"

"No?

"Well, nor do I!" said Evgenie Pavlovitch, laughing suddenly. "I haven't
the slightest knowledge of any such IOU's as she mentioned, I swear I
haven't--What's the matter, are you fainting?"

"Oh, no-no-I'm all right, I assure you!"

XI.

THE anger of the Epanchin family was unappeased for three days. As usual
the prince reproached himself, and had expected punishment, but he was
inwardly convinced that Lizabetha Prokofievna could not be seriously
angry with him, and that she probably was more angry with herself. He
was painfully surprised, therefore, when three days passed with no word
from her. Other things also troubled and perplexed him, and one of these
grew more important in his eyes as the days went by. He had begun to
blame himself for two opposite tendencies--on the one hand to extreme,
almost "senseless," confidence in his fellows, on the other to a "vile,
gloomy suspiciousness."

By the end of the third day the incident of the eccentric lady and
Evgenie Pavlovitch had attained enormous and mysterious proportions in
his mind. He sorrowfully asked himself whether he had been the cause of
this new "monstrosity," or was it... but he refrained from saying who
else might be in fault. As for the letters N.P.B., he looked on that as
a harmless joke, a mere childish piece of mischief--so childish that
he felt it would be shameful, almost dishonourable, to attach any
importance to it.

The day after these scandalous events, however, the prince had the
honour of receiving a visit from Adelaida and her fiance, Prince S. They
came, ostensibly, to inquire after his health. They had wandered out for
a walk, and call