To I. L. Leontyev, 4 April 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 4 April 1888 to Ivan Leontyevich Leontyev (pen name Shcheglov), a fellow writer and close friend to whom Chekhov often wrote in a joking, familiar tone ("Jean,captain"). Chekhov apologizes for a slow reply, blaming laziness and spring lassitude.

2 He recounts a public quarrel between the writer Kazimir Barantsevich and the editor Anna Evreinova, both involved in organizing a memorial for the late writer Vsevolod Garshin, in which each side accused the other of being "false liberals"; Chekhov notes he was surprised to find Barantsevich so thin-skinned, since a letter of complaint Barantsevich himself had sent Chekhov was full of unfair charges. He also gives a dismissive verdict on the critic Viktor Goltsev and asks Shcheglov to forward any published reviews, favorable or hostile, of his story "The Steppe."