ABSTRACT

AFTER his three years' exile, Tolstoy was doubtless overjoyed to find himself at Yasnaya Polyana. But he did not remain at home for long. There was a warm reunion with his three brothers and some old friends, and they all rushed off together to Moscow to indulge in the sophisticated pleasures of the capital. Tolstoy, as usual, spent too much money on dissipation, and then capped it by treating himself to a complete new outfit of clothes. His extravagance, indeed, was only curtailed by the receipt of army orders, which summoned him now, in accordance with his own request, to the army of the Danube. Having once more taken leave of all his family, he set off without delay.