“Are you threatening me, you fool?”

“Come, leave off, leave off! Here you are, calling me a fool, and what a tone to use! You ought to be glad, yet you⁠ ⁠… I rushed here on purpose to let you know in good time.⁠ ⁠… Besides, how could I threaten you? As if I cared for what I could get by threats! I want you to help from goodwill and not from fear. You are the light and the sun.⁠ ⁠… It’s I who am terribly afraid of you, not you of me! I am not Mavriky Nikolaevitch.⁠ ⁠… And only fancy, as I flew here in a racing droshky I saw Mavriky Nikolaevitch by the fence at the farthest corner of your garden⁠ ⁠… in his greatcoat, drenched through, he must have been sitting there all night! Queer goings on! How mad people can be!”

“Mavriky Nikolaevitch? Is that true?”