Transcriber's Note:

Minor corrections were made to the original publication. Imagesof the original cover and title page are included at the end ofthe text.

CONTENTS

  PAGE

Introduction ix

Public opinion demands that facts with regard to Tolstoy's goingaway should be revealed—The conditions of Tolstoy's life were atest of his consistency—Why is it necessary to publish thecircumstances of his going away?—The importance of Tolstoy'sexample—Misrepresentation of the causes of his going away—Themoral duty of his friends to defend his memory—My task.

PART I

WHY TOLSTOY DID NOT LEAVE HIS HOME 1

(Letter to H. Dosev)

Dosev's mistake, common to many—Tolstoy's true motives—Hisindependence of the opinion of men—The limit of his yielding—Inorder to go away he had to feel the necessity for doing so—It waseasier to go than to remain—Tolstoy's sufferings at Yasnaya Polyana(from his intimate diary)—The mistake of passing censure upon hislife at Yasnaya—He fulfilled that which God required of him—Hislove for his wife and his confidence in her—His self-sacrifice forher sake—We must believe in his conscientiousness—The heroism ofhis life in his family.

PART II

WHY TOLSTOY WENT AWAY

Chapter I.—The conditions of life at Yasnaya Polyana 18

Wealthy surroundings—False position in the eyes of men—Spiritualbreak with his wife.

Chapter II.—Change for the worse in his wife's attitude to him 26

Change for the worse in the conditions of life at Yasnaya withregard to the management of the estate, to the relations with thepeasants, and in his wife's attitude to him—Tolstoy gives uplanded property—His readiness to go away and the causes of hisdelay in making a final decision.

Chapter III.—The history of the will ...