She was howling, shrieking and wailing, rapidly, hurriedly, incoherently, so that he could not make out what she was talking about; she was beseeching, no doubt, not to be beaten, for she was being mercilessly beaten on the stairs.

The voice of her assailant was so horrible from spite and rage that it was almost a croak; but he, too, was saying something, and just as quickly and indistinctly, hurrying and spluttering.

All at once Raskolnikov trembled; he recognised the voice--it was the voice of Ilya Petrovitch.
Ilya Petrovitch here and beating the landlady! He is kicking her, banging her head against the steps--that's clear, that can be told from the sounds, from the cries and the thuds.

How is it, is the world topsy-turvy?
He could hear people running in crowds from all the storeys and all the staircases; he heard voices, exclamations, knocking, doors banging.

"But why, why, and how could it be ?" he repeated, thinking seriously that he had gone mad.