To K. S. Barantsevich, 9 February 1890. Moscow.

1 Dating and addressee. 9 February 1890, Moscow (Chekhov’s own marginal note within the letter reads "8 Feb.," apparently marking when he began writing it, one day before the letter’s dated close). Written to Kazimir Stanislavovich Barantsevich, a Petersburg writer and friend with whom Chekhov corresponded regularly; the letter answers questions from an earlier letter of Barantsevich’s that had sat unopened on Chekhov’s desk for nearly a week.

2 A warm, joking reply to a fellow writer. Chekhov answers two practical questions in numbered form: that Kumanin has confirmed Barantsevich’s play will be published, and that Chekhov will pursue an introduction to Sobolevsky indirectly, through a partner of Sablin’s, rather than approach Sobolevsky directly, and expects to see Sablin that same evening at a ball at the Assembly of the Nobility. He then turns personal, chiding Barantsevich for succumbing to gloom ("gray fogs") and offering a fatalistic, self-deprecating consolation: ordinary people ("petty bourgeois," not cavalry guardsmen or actresses) are born to suffer and must make peace with fate as with weather; Chekhov calls himself a fatalist and calls the stance "stupid." He closes with travel news – he leaves for Sakhalin in early April, so there is still time to correspond – and affectionate, joking regards to Barantsevich’s wife and children, referred to as "little geese,little ducks," and a "fat-bellied little sparrow" with a sore lip, before signing off.

5 has a full salutation ("Милый и дорогой коллега Казимир Станиславович" / "Dear and precious colleague Kazimir Stanislavovich"), connected prose with complete sentences and normal grammar (articles/prepositions all present, as expected for Russian), numbered point-by-point answers, and a signed closing ("Ваш А. Чехов" / "Yours, A. Chekhov"), unlike the bare, elliptical surname-only telegrams elsewhere in the corpus.