LIFE OF ELIE METCHNIKOFF 205 



In every one of his words Tolstoi's exalted soul was 

 perceptible, a soul in which there was room but for 

 preoccupations of a spiritual order. He would have 

 given the impression of floating above the earth if 

 his ardent and compassionate heart had not constantly 

 brought him back to the miseries and faults of 

 human beings. The atmosphere around him was 

 pure and vivifying as on high peaks, and the place 

 seemed sanctified by his presence. 



That interview had been a meeting of two superior 

 minds, two exalted souls, but how different ! The 

 one, scientific and rational, always leaning on solid 

 facts in order to soar and to spread his wings in the 

 highest spheres of thought ; the other an artist and 

 a mystic, rising through intuition to the same spiritual 

 heights ; both pursuing the same goal of human per- 

 fection and happiness, but going along such different 

 roads. . . . 



As we took leave of him, Leon Tolstoi said, " Not 

 farewell, but au revoir ! " And as we sat in the 

 carriage and started to go, he appeared in a lighted 

 window, as in an aureola, waving his hand, " Au 

 revoir, au revoir ! " he repeated for the last time. 

 . . . The night was calm and beautiful under the im- 

 mensity of the starry vault, and its greatness was 

 confounded in our souls with the greatness of Leon 

 Tolstoi. 



