To V. G. Korolenko, 2 May 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 2 May 1888 to the writer Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, just before Chekhov’s departure for the Lintvaryov estate near Sumy, in Ukraine, for the summer.

2 Chekhov reminds Korolenko of his promise to visit later that summer and gives the route and address, reports having sold a story to "Severny vestnik" for an advance, and explains why he gave up a plan to travel by steamer from Yaroslavl (he could not risk missing Easter at home). He asks whether Korolenko has forwarded a story to Kazimir Barantsevich, who now wants an unpublished piece, then admits to being out of sorts and having answered both Barantsevich and the publisher A. Leman with irritable letters – quoting his own tart reply to Leman’s request that Chekhov certify which young writers were politically "in solidarity" with his publishing circle. He closes with family regards, a plan to read Korolenko’s "The Blind Musician" on the road, and a wry account of the home remedies and patients he expects to attend to over the summer.