The nervous alarm of a moment before had entirely left him.
"I don't acknowledge any sort of obligation to give an account to the devil knows whom," he declared definitely.

"No one has the authority to set me free." "Not quite so.

A great deal has been entrusted to you.

You hadn't the right to break off simply.

Besides, you made no clear statement about it, so that you put them in an ambiguous position." "I stated my position clearly by letter as soon as I arrived here." "No, it wasn't clear," Pyotr Stepanovitch retorted calmly.