at home as of old, lost in a labyrinth of deep researches, and as of old is
very nice; of Chekhov they say he has married the heiress Sibiryakov and
got five millions dowry--all Petersburg is talking of it. For whose
benefit and for what object this slander, I am utterly unable to imagine.
It's positively sickening to read letters from Petersburg.

I have not seen Ostrovsky this year....

We shall probably not meet very soon, as I am going away in March and shall
not return to the North before November. I shall not keep a flat in Moscow,
as that pleasure is beyond my means. I shall stay in Petersburg.

I embrace you warmly. By the way, a little explanation in private. One day
at dinner in Paris, persuading me to remain there, you offered to lend me
money. I refused, and it seemed to me my refusal hurt and vexed you, and I
fancied that when we parted there was a touch of coldness on your side.
Possibly I am mistaken, but if I am right I assure you, my dear friend, on
my word of honour, that I refused not because I did not care to be under an
obligation to you, but simply from a feeling of self-preservation; I was
behaving stupidly in Paris, and an extra thousand francs would only have
been bad for my health. Believe me that if I had needed it, I would have
asked you for a loan as readily as Suvorin.

God keep you.




TO V. A. TIHONOV.