On the 25th of August he went back to his own villa at Yalta, and soon
afterwards Melihovo was sold, and his mother and sister joined him. During
the last four and a half years of his life Chekhov's health grew rapidly
worse. His chief interest was centred in Moscow, in the Art Theatre, which
had just been started, and the greater part of his dramatic work was done
during this period.

Chekhov was ill all the winter of 1900, and only felt better towards the
spring. During those long winter months he wrote "In the Ravine." The
detestable spring of that year affected his mood and his health even more.
Snow fell on the 5th of March, and this had a shattering effect on him. In
April he was again very ill. An attack of intestinal trouble prevented him
from eating, drinking, or working. As soon as it was over Chekhov, homesick
for the north, set off for Moscow, but there he was met by severe weather.
Returning in August to Yalta, he wrote "The Three Sisters."

He spent the autumn in Moscow, and at the beginning of December went to the
French Riviera, settled in Nice, and dreamed again of a visit to Africa,
but went instead to Rome. Here, as usual, he met with severe weather. Early
in February he returned to Yalta. That year there was a soft, sunny spring.
Chekhov spent whole days in the open air, engaged in his favourite
occupations; he planted and pruned trees, looked after his garden, ordered
all sorts of seeds, and watched them coming up. At the same time he was
working on behalf of the invalids coming to Yalta, who appealed to him for
help, and also completing the library he had founded at Taganrog, and
planning to open a picture gallery there.

In May, 1901, Chekhov went to Moscow and was thoroughly examined by a
physician, who urged him to go at once to Switzerland or to take a koumiss