To M. P. Chekhov, 6 December 1890. Fastov.

This is a telegram, not a letter — four short sections that together reproduce a single wire, not four separate documents. is the dateline; is the message text itself, in genuine elliptical wire-economy grammar (the Russian omits the prepositions: "Буду Москве пятницу курьерским," literally "Will [be] Moscow Friday courier[-train]"), signed with the bare pet-name "Антуан" (Antoine) rather than a surname or a closing courtesy; is an editorial note in the source edition ("На бланке:" — "On the form:") flagging that what follows was written on the telegram blank itself, not part of the message proper; is the routing/address block from that form — destination town and recipient’s official title and surname. All four are the natural parts of one telegram artifact as preserved by the standard edition

Dating and context: sent 6 December 1890 from Fastov, a railway junction in Kiev province (present-day Ukraine), on Chekhov’s return journey from Sakhalin Island. He had left Sakhalin by sea in October 1890 and was completing the trip home overland through Europe (via Vienna, etc.); this wire is a same-week arrival notice sent from partway along that final overland leg, announcing he will reach Moscow the following Friday by express ("курьерский") train. It is not written from Sakhalin itself.

the entire substantive content is one sentence — Chekhov will be in Moscow on Friday, arriving by the courier/express train. No elaboration, no news of the journey, no greeting or sign-off beyond the bare pet-name signature.

Addressee: the source edition’s header identifies the recipient as М. П. Чехову — Mikhail Pavlovich Chekhov, Anton’s youngest brother. The telegram’s own routing block gives his location and post at the time: Aleksin (a town in Tula province) — "Податному инспектору Чехову," i.e. "To Tax Inspector Chekhov," reflecting Mikhail’s civil-service post as a tax inspector (податной инспектор) there in this period.