To M. P. Chekhova, 3 February 1892. Voronezh.
М. П. ЧЕХОВОЙ, 3 февраля 1892 г. Воронеж.
Headnote
dateline, a repeated shorthand date, a string of household errands, and a closing. Dated 3 February 1892, from Voronezh, written the same day as his letter to G. G. Lepnev – a genuine companion piece from the same stop on his travels, not a duplicate.
Chekhov writes to his sister Maria Pavlovna ("Masha," pavlovna-chekhova) with a small commission: retrieve Yelena Mikhailovna Shavrova’s manuscript "The Little Young Lady" from the round table in his study, package it, stamp it, and mail it to her Afanasyevsky Lane address with an inscribed note that it is sent on his instruction. He asks her to keep the newspapers, checks whether she has written to their brother Misha, sends regards, and closes with two throwaway lines on his evening plans – he is off to see "The Bear" at the local theater – and a one-line verdict on Voronezh itself.
The source gives the addressee’s patronymic in a garbled form ("Елене Михаил Шавровой" rather than the expected "Елене Михайловне"), evidently a transcription defect in the digitized edition; this is normalized in translation to "Yelena Mikhailovna" on the strength of her established identity elsewhere in the corpus (see, "To Ye. M. Shavrova"), where the same Afanasyevsky Lane/Lachinov address appears for her.