In 1895 Leo Nikolaevich wrote a letter in which, as a request to his
heirs, he expressed the desire that the copyright in his works should be
made public property, and in which he entrusted the examination of his
MSS. after his death to Nikolai Nikolaevich Strakhov, to Chertkov, and
to me.{62} The letter was in the keeping of my daughter Masha and was
destroyed,{63} and in its place in September, 1909, a will was made at
Chertkov's house in Krekshino not far from Moscow, where Leo Nikolaevich
and several other persons were staying at the time. The will turned out
to have been drawn incorrectly and to be invalid, a fact which the
"friends" soon found out.{64}
Our journey home from Krekshino through Moscow was terrible. One of the
intimates had informed the press that on such and such a day at a
certain hour Tolstoy would be at the Kursk Station. Several thousands of
people came there to see us off. At moments it seemed to me, as I walked
arm in arm with my husband and limped on my bad leg, that I should be
choked, fall down, and die. In spite of the fresh, autumnal air, we were
enveloped in a hot, thick atmosphere.
This had a very serious effect upon Leo Nikolaevich's health. Just after
the train had passed Schekino station, he began to talk deliriously and
lost all consciousness of his surroundings. A few minutes after our
arrival at home he had a prolonged fainting fit and this was followed by
a second. Luckily there was a doctor in the house. After this I suffered
more and more from a painful, nervous excitement: day and night I
watched my husband to see when he would go for a ride or a walk by
himself, and I awaited his return anxiously, for I was afraid that he
might have another fainting fit or simply fall down somewhere where it
would be difficult to find him.
Owing to these agitations and to the difficult and responsible work
connected with L. N. Tolstoy's publications, I continually grew more
nervous and worried, and my health broke down completely.{65} I lost my
mental balance, and, owing to this, I had a bad effect upon my husband.
At the same time Leo Nikolaevich began continually to threaten to leave
the house and his "intimate" friend[M] carefully prepared, together,
with the lawyer M., a new and correct will[N] which was copied by Leo
Nikolaevich himself on the stump of a tree in the forest on 23 July,
1910.{66}
* * * * *
This was the will which was proved after his death.
In his diary he wrote at the time, among other things: "I very clearly
see my mistake; I ought to have called together all my heirs and told
them my intention; I ought not to have kept it secret. I wrote this
to----, but he was very annoyed--"
On 5 August he writes of me:
"It is painful the constant secrecy and fear for her...."
On 10 August he writes:
"It is good to feel oneself guilty, as I do...." And again: "My
relations with all of them are difficult; I cannot help desiring
death...."
Clearly the pressure brought to bear upon him tormented him. One of his
friends, P. I. B..V,{67} was of opinion that no secret should be made of
the will, and he told Leo Nikolaevich so. At first he agreed with the
opinion of this true friend, but he went away and Leo Nikolaevich
submitted to another influence though at times he was obviously
oppressed by it. I was powerless to save him from that influence, and
for Leo Nikolaevich and myself there began a terrible period of painful
struggle which made me still more ill. The sufferings of my hot and
harassed heart clouded my reasoning powers, while Leo Nikolaevich's
friends worked continually, deliberately, subtly upon the mind of an old
man whose memory and powers were growing feeble.{68} They created around
him who was dear to me an atmosphere of conspiracy, of letters received
secretly, letters and articles sent back after they had been read,
mysterious meetings in forests for the performance of acts essentially
disgusting to Leo Nikolaevich; after their performance he could no
longer look me or my sons straight in the face, for he had never before
concealed anything from us; it was the first secret in our life and it
was intolerable to him. When I guessed it and asked whether a will was
not being made, and why it was concealed from me, I was answered by a
"no" or by silence. I believed that it was not a will. It meant,
therefore, that there was some other secret of which I knew nothing, and
I was in despair with the perpetual feeling that my husband was being
carefully set against me and that a terrible and fatal ending was in
front of us.{69} Leo Nikolaevich's threats to leave the house became
more and more frequent, and this threat added to my torment and
increased my nervousness and ill-health.
I shall not describe in detail Leo Nikolaevich's going away. So much has
been and will be written about it, but no one will know the real cause.
Let _his_ biographers try to find out.
When I read in the letter which Leo Nikolaevich sent me through our
daughter Alexandra that he had gone away finally and for ever, I felt
and clearly understood that without him--and especially after all that
had happened--life would be utterly impossible, and instantly I made up
my mind to put an end to all my sufferings by throwing myself into the
pond in which some time before a girl and her little brother had been
drowned. But I was rescued, and, when Leo Nikolaevich was told of it, he
wept bitterly, as his sister, Marie Nikolaevna, wrote to me, but he
could not get himself to return.{70}
After Leo Nikolaevich's going away an article appeared in the newspapers
expressing the joy of one of his most "intimate" friends at the
event.{71}