The Complete Works of Count Tolstoy Author:Leo Tolstoy Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE HERMIT, FEDOR KUSMICH There were strange tales about the old hermit, Fedor Kusmich, who appeared in Siberia in the year 1836, and... more » lived there in various places during the space of twenty-seven years. Even before he died it used to be said of him that he concealed his indentity — that he was no other than the Emperor Alexander I., but after his death these tales spread and came to be more firmly believed. That he positively was Alexander I. was considered a fact not only among the commoner people, but also in the highest circles; and even in the royal family in Alexander III.'s lifetime. It was also believed by the learned historian, Shilder, who wrote a history of his reign. The incidents which gave rise to these rumours were, firstly, that the Emperor died quite suddenly without any serious illness; secondly, that it happened away from everybody in the obscure town of Vaganrog; thirdly, it was declared by those who had chanced to see him in his coffin that he had changed to such an extent as to be hardlyrecognisable, and was in consequence kept covered and not shown to any one; fourthly, he was known to have both said and written a great many times, especially in his later years, that he desired nothing better than to give up his throne and retire from the world. A fifth circumstance, about which very little is known, is the fact that in the official record describing his body, it was stated that the whole of his back was covered with black and blue marks, a thing hardly credible on the Emperor's delicate skin. The reasons why Kusmich in particular was believed to be the Emperor in hiding, were first of all, that in height, build, and appearance he was so much like the monarch. Everybody (even the palace servants) who had seen Alexander I. an...« less