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"The worst of it is they don't disguise it; they don't care to

stand on ceremony! And how if you didn't know me at all, did you

come to talk to Nikodim Fomitch about me? So they don't care to

hide that they are tracking me like a pack of dogs. They simply

spit in my face." He was shaking with rage. "Come, strike me

openly, don't play with me like a cat with a mouse. It's hardly

civil, Porfiry Petrovitch, but perhaps I won't allow it! I shall

get up and throw the whole truth in your ugly faces, and you'll

see how I despise you." He could hardly breathe. "And what if

it's only my fancy? What if I am mistaken, and through

inexperience I get angry and don't keep up my nasty part? Perhaps

it's all unintentional. All their phrases are the usual ones, but

there is something about them.... It all might be said, but there

is something. Why did he say bluntly, 'With her'? Why did Zametov

add that I spoke artfully? Why do they speak in that tone? Yes,

the tone....