To N. A. Leikin, 5 November 1888. Moscow.
Н. А. ЛЕЙКИНУ, 5 ноября 1888 г. Москва.
Headnote
1 Written from Moscow on 5 November 1888 to the publisher and humorist Nikolai Alexandrovich Leikin, editor of "Oskolki" ("Splinters"), a month after Chekhov’s letter of 5 October. Chekhov opens by taking up, evidently in reply to a complaint from Leikin, the matter of drawings by his brother Nikolai: he reports he has already spoken to Nikolai about it and will "read him a lecture" when he next sees him – a direct continuation of the arrangement described in, where Chekhov had asked that any fee or parcel for Nikolai’s drawings be routed through their younger brother Mikhail rather than to Nikolai himself.
2 Business follows: Chekhov asks Leikin to send along his vaudeville piece, promising to read it and pass it to whichever actor at Korsh’s theatre suits the part best, and noting Korsh’s standard rate of 6 rubles per act; he also asks whether Leikin has placed his newly published collection of stage works on commission with the theatrical bookseller Rassokhin.
3 Chekhov then confides a rough patch: an unspecified "small family upset" and acute money trouble, compounded by an overdue bonus payment and dismal, snowless weather, which together have left him in what he calls outright melancholy. He reports the success of his own one-act farce "The Bear" ("Медведь") at Korsh’s theatre, predicting it will hold the repertoire and be widely staged in the provinces and by amateurs, while confessing he has little time or taste left for writing comic stage pieces.
4 He turns to accounting: he asks Leikin to hold back any payment owed him for "Motley Tales" ("Пестрые рассказы") until spring, when his money troubles will be at their worst, and asks the approximate sum due. He then reports word that his bonus will arrive in five to six weeks, and gives Leikin precise instructions for a hundred rubles should the "Motley Tales" sum exceed that amount – to be sent via Volkov’s banking house for convenience – explaining he needs it to pay his rent.
5 On the matter of Nikolai Ezhov, a young writer Leikin had apparently accused Chekhov of steering (perhaps toward or away from government service), Chekhov firmly disclaims responsibility: he says he only helps and makes introductions but never pushes anyone off their own path, that he neither advised Ezhov to leave his teaching post nor advises him now to return to service, and that he will offer advice only if asked. The letter closes with an expectation of seeing Leikin in November, a promise to call for evening tea on the day of his arrival, regards to Leikin’s family, and a final greeting to Viktor Viktorovich Bilibin.