To F. O. Shekhtel, 20 October 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 20 October 1888 to Franz (Fyodor) Osipovich Shekhtel, the architect and stage designer who was one of Chekhov’s closest Moscow friends throughout the 1880s. Shekhtel had evidently written to reproach Chekhov for not visiting him, prompting this short, bantering note that mixes an apology with an update on the ongoing troubles of Chekhov’s brother, whom Shekhtel also knew and who had apparently borrowed or been lent items – including drawing-boards – belonging to Shekhtel himself.

2 Chekhov brushes off Shekhtel’s complaint that he never visits, blaming his own laziness and attachment to his desk, and proposes supper together instead. He then turns to his "prodigal brother," reporting that the danger is less serious than it looks: the brother has moved out to a "studio," taking with him a portrait of Roza Meyerzon, his top hat, a pair of Chekhov’s trousers, and some of Shekhtel’s own drawing-boards, and appears to be working there. Chekhov gives the new address, then recounts the brother’s recent bender: he stayed home quietly until the poet Palmin turned up and lured him away for a full day, and then, some three days before this letter, Chekhov unwisely took him to a wedding, where he drank himself senseless and did not come home until the day before writing. Chekhov observes that his brother is good company sober but turns wild after even one drink, and that the family is worn out and privately relieved he has moved out. Asked what is to be done, Chekhov professes not to know. He closes with a report on his own health (alive, well, "resting on his academic laurels" – a wry nod to the recent Pushkin Prize – and short of money), regards to Shekhtel’s wife, a handshake, his signature, and a final teasing postscript complimenting Shekhtel’s stationery.