To N. A. Leikin, 4 June 1887. Babkino.

1 Written on 4 June 1887 from Babkino, the Kiselyov family estate near Voskresensk where the Chekhovs summered, to Nikolai Leikin, editor of the Petersburg humor magazine "Oskolki" ("Fragments") and Chekhov’s chief patron-editor in these years. Chekhov is coordinating a visit to Leikin’s household near Petersburg, planned around a trip involving Lake Ladoga, and reporting on money just received.

2 Short and businesslike even by the standards of Chekhov’s notes to Leikin: travel logistics (which station to disembark at, what to pay the cabman, a weather-dependent contingency), an acknowledgment of payment that eased a cash shortage, a wry complaint about being unable to drink because of his hemorrhoids, and a closing joke about a fellow contributor to "Oskolki" traveling under an inflated title. The letter ends abruptly with a small vignette – a wounded (presumably military) officer grumbling as he is pressed into carrying the letter to the post.