To F. O. Shekhtel, 24 January 1892. Moscow.

Dated 24 January 1892, from Moscow – a genuine distinct companion to (same date, to V. A. Tikhonov), not a duplicate: different addressee, different content, different closing.

A brief, jesting personal note to Fyodor (Franz) Osipovich Shekhtel, the young Moscow architect and stage designer, addressed with mock-official formality as "Your High Nobility." Chekhov reports that he has returned to Moscow and expects to stay about five days, and asks whether Shekhtel has any instructions regarding "medicine" or the Hermitage (presumably the well-known Moscow restaurant). He complains, in comic medical-Latin-adjacent terms, of a sore right shoulder blade and the adjoining space that "bishops call the interwing" – i.e., between the shoulder blades – so painful that turning his neck hurts and pulling on stockings and boots is as hard as kissing his own heel. A one-line aside asks whether Shekhtel is "still eating mustard," an apparent private joke whose reference is not recoverable from the letter itself. Chekhov closes awaiting a reply and sending regards to Shekhtel’s household.