that cannot be sufficiently appreciated. But during the last period of our life—the last fifteen years—we have become estranged. I cannot think that I am wrong, because I know that I changed not for my own sake, not for that of others, but because I could not do otherwise. And neither can I blame you that you did not follow me; on the contrary, I thank you, and with love remember and will remember what you have given me.
"Good-bye, dear Sonya.
"Yours lovingly,
"Leo Tolstoy."
"820 July, 1897."
A similar letter Tolstoy wrote to his wife in July, 1910, enjoining her in the kindest, most touching, and loving terms to put aside her anxieties, and to be tranquil, adding that if she could not adopt this peaceful way he had decided to leave home.
A week before carrying out his decision he spoke in detail about it to his friend Michael Novikoff, the peasant, to whom he said that he had firmly made up his mind to leave his home in the near future. On taking leave of him he added:
"We shall soon see each other again."
On November 6th he wrote to Novikoff:
"In connection with what I told you the other
