To R. R. Golike, 31 March 1890. Moscow.

The dateline is given twice by design: the full form ("31 March 1890. Moscow.") heads the item per the standard edition’s convention, and the letter’s own opening line repeats a short-form date ("31 March.") as Chekhov actually wrote it at the top of the page — this is normal for the edition’s letters and is not a sign of two documents merged under one number.

Written on Easter Sunday (31 March 1890 by the Julian calendar then in civil use in Russia), opening with the traditional Orthodox Paschal greeting "Christ is risen." Chekhov offers holiday wishes, then tells Golike he is about to leave "these fine parts" during Bright Week (the week following Easter) — this letter falls roughly ten weeks before Chekhov’s departure for Sakhalin (he left Moscow in April 1890), so the valediction ("Or maybe we won’t ever see each other again") plausibly carries real weight: he is about to undertake the journey across Siberia to the Sakhalin penal colony, a trip whose hazards he took seriously. The letter closes with a business follow-up: an earlier letter (March) went unanswered, and Chekhov is chasing a promised account/statement for his 1886 story collection "Пёстрые рассказы" ("Motley Stories"), to be sent via a colleague, Yuly Bogdanovich, at Golike’s firm.