Anton wrote to Lika, inviting her to Petersburg, knowing full well that she was too shy to come to the Suvorins, with whom Chekhov so frankly discussed his private affairs. Anton taunted her: he was dreaming of Countess Mamuna, he liked the idea of telling his friends that a blonde was being unfaithful to him. On 28 December he enclosed a newspaper cutting, should Lika wish to marry 'par depif: Wishing to marry, mere being no suitable brides in our area, I invite girls desiring marriage to send their terms. The bride must be no older than 23, blonde, good-looking, of medium height and of lively, cheerful character; no dowry required. Apply to Evgeni Insarov, Almetevo, Bugulma district. Lika replied by return of post: Par depit I am burning up my life now!… and if you tell your friends at supper that a blonde is being unfaithful to you, that will probably amaze nobody, since I shouldn't think anyone would suppose that someone could be faithful to you. Anton was supping with literary friends that night and the next four. Sergeenko tried to recruit Chekhov into a club of twelve - writers, painters, composers - for suppers, teas and story-telling. In Petersburg the temperature was ~35°C. (At Melikhovo, too, it was colder than anyone could recall.) Party-going and terrible cold took their toll. Suvorin's house turned into a sickbay. Anton coughed uncontrollably, but treated everybody else. Suvorin had flu and otitis. Anton bandaged Kmilie Bijon's leg: the governess had fallen off a wardrobe. He introduced to Petersburg a Moscow tradition: Tatiana-day celebrations with Suvorin, Grigorovich and Leikin, Barantsevich, Ezhov and Tikhonov. 'We drank little, but it was an extremely lively dinner,' recorded Leikin. Anton announced: 'We must all unite, or they'll pick us off one by one.'24
Accounts at New Times, controlled by Suvorin's eldest son, Mikhail, were a muddle. Anton needed to offset the 5000 roubles in advances and loans he had taken from Suvorin. He wanted to pay off Natalia Lintvariova, who had lent him 500 roubles to buy seed and equipment for Melikhovo. He was puzzled: no matter how many of his books Suvorin sold, he seemed to be in debt. At Suvorin's, he wrote only a
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short discourse, 'What Disease Did Herod Die Of?', and an enquiry on behalf of the painter Repin into whether the moon shone on Gethsemane.
Even in Petersburg Anton could not escape the demands on his time, pocket and affections. Pavel, who received a pension through Suvorin's office, ostensibly from his sons, angry that payment was late, protested to Aleksandr: I am the father of famous children. I must in no way find myself embarrassed or humble myself before anyone. I shall not go begging from anybody. It is a disgrace! I need freedom, I shall live where I wish, I shall go whither I wish, and I need money for that.25 Lika lamented still more loudly on 15 January 1893: I haven't seen Masha since December… You say that you will come on a Monday? That's stupid - there are Mondays in March and July and that explains nothing… I am counting the days and hours which must pass before the happy moment comes when I see you. Your Likula.26 Anton felt he had to surrender to Lika, and to return home. On Sunday 24 January 1893, just before he left, he reluctantly dined tete-a-tete with the sister of Maria Kiseliova - Nadezhda Golubeva, a senator's wife and amateur writer. Anton had last met her at Babkino in the summer of 1887. Anton was forthright with Nadezhda: neither her nor Maria's writing was any good, because it was done without sweat; his own success came not from genius, but luck and toil. Nadezhda observed Anton closely: He cast a quick eye around the room; I understood that look and hastened to tell him that my husband would not be dining with him as he was away. Chekhov brightened up suddenly and barked out as of old: 'Oh, how glad I am! You know, Nadezhda, I don't have your husband's good manners. My papa and mama sold herrings.'… Chekhov was turning the napkin in an astoundingly odd way, as if it irritated him terribly, he crumpled it, twisted it, finally put it behind him. He was on tenterhooks. I couldn't understand what this all meant. Suddenly he fired: 'I'm sorry, Nadezhda, I'm not used to sitting down to dinner, I always eat as I walk… In the last six years I've aged by twenty years.'… There was such tiredness in his face!
OCTOBER 1892-JANUARY 1893
I thought: the springtime of his life has passed, there has been no summer, autumn has come straight away. That tired disillusionment is equally strong in Shcheglov's diary entry for the next day: 'Chekhov and Co. is not literature, but [quoting Nutlstm] 'Our useless ant hill, our world of pygmies not of men.''28 ()n 26 January 1893, Anton was back in his Moscow ant hill, climbing the stairs to see Lika. After nearly three years' evasion, she must have tclt, Anton had surrendered.
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Sickbay February-March 1893 ANTON HAD ENJOYED PETERSBURG SO much that he thought of renting an apartment there. In the frozen countryside, he forgot such frivolity. Pavel, after watching the cow give birth, collapsed and prepared to die. Anton fetched Masha, delirious with a temperature of 40°C, from Moscow. She grew worse, and Countess Mamuna came down to nurse her. Lika, always ill at ease in times of crisis, stayed away. Then Anton himself fell ill. He wrote to Aleksandr on 6 February 1893: 1) Father is ill. He has bad spinal pains and numb fingers. Not continuously, it comes in attacks like angina. The symptoms seem to be senile. He needs treatment, but 'his lordship is dining' furiously, rejecting moderation: pancakes all day, hot flour dishes for supper and all sorts of rubbishy snacks. He says 'I'm stricken with paralysis', but won't obey. 2) Masha is ill. She was in bed for a week with a high temperature. We thought it was typhoid. Now she's better. 3) I have flu. I am doing nothing and am irritable. 4) The pedigree calf has frostbitten ears. 5) The geese pecked off the cockerel's comb. 6) Visitors keep coming and staying the night. 7) The rural authorities are demanding a medical report from me. 8) The house has subsidence and some doors won't shut.
9) The sub-zero temperatures continue. 10) The sparrows are copulating. Now Anton needed Aleksandr's help. While in Petersburg Anton had found he had no right to live there. A humble townsman, no longer a Moscow resident, he needed a permit to reside in either capital city. He had to obtain dvorianin (noble) status to enjoy full civic freedom.
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Suvorin found the solution and Aleksandr did the work. Aleksandr lobbied with the Medical Department of the Interior Ministry to appoint Anton a supernumerary civil servant. Now, like Aleksandr and Vania, he had rank and civic rights. Employed by a Petersburg ministry (he forwent a salary), Anton could reside only in Petersburg; to reside in Moscow as well, he had to take leave or, better, retire. The first half of 1893 was spent securing appointment, the second retirement. Then Anton Chekhov could live and travel anywhere. (I lis parents still needed, to reside in Melikhovo, an annual passport issued by the police in Taganrog.) Aleksandr's reward was to be invited, with his elder boys, but without Natalia, to Melikhovo. Now that Misha was two, Natalia's passion fixed on her son; her stepsons were left to Aleksandr's care. Aleksandr won little sympathy or thanks from Anton. He sent photographs, taken at Melikhovo or printed from Sakhalin plates. Anton grumbled that he had no room to display them and that he despised Aleksandr's hobbies, fretwork and photography.
Lika reappeared. In February, as the patients in Melikhovo recovered, she came with Masha for weekends there. In March she spent a whole week, from the 23rd (her name day) to Easter Sunday, but Anton was still hard to lure to Moscow. She wrote on 1 April i8y«: 'I've made you some perfume, if you don't come soon, I'll give it to somebody else… All men are bastards. Come!' Pavel set off to see Vania and do the rounds of Moscow's churches. Masha and Anton took over Pavel's diary and parodied his lugubrious style: 18 March: -1°. Glory to God, all have left and only two, myself and Mme. Chekhova remain. 19: Masha and Mizinova came… 20: Mama dreamt of a nanny goat on a chamberpot, this is a good sign. 21 Sunday: Semashko came. We ate roast udder. 22 We heard a lark. A crane flew by in the evening. Semashko left. 23 Mama dreamt of a goose in a priest's hat. This is a good omen. Masha's belly aches. We slaughtered a pig. 24. We made sausages. Anton was again hiding from admirers. In February Aleksandra Pokh-lebina had lost her pupils and her sanity. She raved that a morphine-addicted rival for Anton's affections had hired men to attack her. Anton heard from her again in March 1893: 'Just the thought that you don't care about my suffering drives me mad, I feel I won't survive.
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If you really don't care what happens to me, then at least pretend, make believe that you like me…' Pokhlebina's life and Anton's peace of mind were saved when her family set up a metallurgical plant, and she went to work there. Anton also persuaded The Performing Artist to publish her eccentric New Ways of Getting Piano Technique.
