of a
workingman, named Savka, whom Sazanov's success has rendered bold.
Through gratitude, and later through love, in the absence of
Kozhemyakine, she becomes the mistress of her step-son. On his
return, the father, finding out about this "liaison," spares his
son, but beats his wife to death, and himself, mad with fury, falls,
struck with apoplexy.

All the newspapers in the world have attacked Gorky's way of living.
As he is forced to remain away from his beloved country, the great
writer has made his home in the little island of Capri, the air of
which is propitious to his failing health. Moreover, its impressive
scenery inspires his restless genius.

Drunk with liberty, taken up with beauty, always ready to help a man
who is in political and social difficulties, Gorky, from the depths
of his peaceful retreat, wanders out over the world of ideas in
search of truth, as formerly he used to wander over the earth in
search of bread.

VI

LEONID ANDREYEV

Leonid Andreyev was born of a humble bourgeoise family in Orel, in
1871. "It was there that I began my studies," he says. "I was not a
good pupil; in the seventh form I was last in my class for a whole
year, and I had especially poor reports as to my deportment. The
most agreeable part of my schooling, which I still remember with
pleasure, was the intervals between the lessons, the 'recesses,' and
the times, rare as they were, when the instructor sent me from the
class-room for inattention or lack of respect. In the long deserted
halls a sonorous silence reigned which vibrated at the solitary
noise of my steps; on all sides the closed doors, shutting in rooms
full of pupils; a sunbeam--a free beam--played with the dust which
had been raised during recess and which had not yet had time to
settle; all of it was mysterious, interesting, full of a particular
and secret meaning."

Andreyev's father, who was a geometrician, died while he was still
at school, and the family was without resources. The young man did
not hesitate, however, in setting out for St. Petersburg, where he
entered the university, hoping to gain a livelihood by giving
lessons. But it was hard to secure what he wanted. "I knew what
terrible misery was," Andreyev tells us; "during my first years in
St. Petersburg I was hungry more than once, and sometimes I did not
eat for two days."

His first literary productions date from this sombre epoch. Andreyev
gives us remarkably graphic details