My sister Masha, with whom I once had a conversation on the
subject, was of the same opinion.
In 1909 my father stayed with Mr. Tchertkof at Krekshin, and
there for the first time he wrote a formal will, attested by the
signature of witnesses. How this will came to be written I do not
know, and I do not intend to discuss it. It afterward appeared
that it also was imperfect from a legal point of view, and in
October, 1909, it had all to be done again.
As to the writing of the third we are fully informed by Mr. F.
Strakhof in an article which he published in the St. Petersburg
"Gazette" on November 6, 1911.
Mr. Strakhof left Moscow at night. He had calculated on
Sofya Andreyevna, [28] whose presence at
Yasnaya Polyana was highly inexpedient for the
business on which he was bound, being still in Moscow.
[28] The Countess Tolstoy.
The business in question, as was made clear in the preliminary
consultation which V. G. Tchertkof held with N. K. Muravyof, the
solicitor, consisted in getting fresh signatures from Lyoff
Nikolaievich, whose great age made it desirable to make sure,
without delay, of his wishes being carried out by means of a more
unassailable legal document. Strakhof brought the draft of the
will with him, and laid it before Lyoff Nikolaievich. After
reading the paper through, he at once wrote under it that he agreed
with its purport, and then added, after a pause:
"All this business is very disagreeable to me, and it is
unnecessary.
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