Tolstoi said he had received three letters: one from Mr. Grekov, who sent him three copies of his book, _The Message of Peace_, and wrote that his book was so remarkable that, if it were widely read, it would revolutionize human life; the second letter was from an intellectual who asked for a loan of 800 roubles; and the third from a simple illiterate peasant, a good serious letter. Tolstoi said that, besides letters asking for money, he also receives letters from authors sending him their books, and begging that Tolstoi will use his authority to make their books known. “An odd idea,” Tolstoi said, “that I should try to spread opinions which I neither sympathize with nor share.” _August 5th._ Marie Nikolaevna told how the steward Fokanich had once stolen 400 roubles from Tolstoi, and Tolstoi took it rather indifferently. Soon afterwards Sergey Nikolaevich, Tolstoi’s brother, was very much worried about his affairs, and when he was told that it was not worth while to be so worried, he said: “It doesn’t matter to Levochka that Fokanich stole 400 roubles from him; he will write a story and get the money back; and he will describe Fokanich into the bargain; but where shall I get my money?” Tolstoi replied to this: “Mashenka, how can you remember all this? But I heard an expression to-day that keeps on coming back into my mind.” And Tolstoi told how during lunch to-day an unusually importunate beggar arrived. He stood by the balcony and began saying how happy he was to see and salute Tolstoi, etc.... He was given something, but he was not satisfied, went to the kitchen, and began begging with extraordinary importunity. After lunch when Tolstoi was coming down from the balcony, Ilya Vasilevich, pointing to the beggar, said to Tolstoi: “Yes, that fellow could beg the parson’s mare off him.” _August 19th._ At tea the conversation turned upon modern literature. Tolstoi asked Buturlin to send him anything new he could find by Anatole France, whom Tolstoi values very highly. He spoke again. Tolstoi said: “I cannot remember getting a strong impression from a book for a long time. I do not think it is because I am old; it seems to me that modern literature, like the Roman literature in the past, is coming to an end. There is no one, neither in the West nor here.” Buturlin asked Tolstoi if he remembered Oscar Wilde’s _De Profundis_. Tolstoi had not read it, but said: “I forget everything now, but I remember having tried to read Wilde, and it has left me with an impression that he was not worth reading.” Speaking of modern Russian writers Tolstoi mentioned Kuprin. “His scope is small; he knows the life of the soldiers, but still he has real artistic power. The others simply have nothing to say, and are on the look-out for new forms. But why look for new forms? If you have something to say, you should only ask for time in which to say what you want, but you won’t need to seek new forms.”