Anton's brothers were content. Misha told Masha that Olga had 'arranged his life so that every desire was anticipated'. In September, for 50 roubles a month, Aleksandr persuaded Vania and Sonia to take his son Kolia. Kolia spent a few days' holiday in Melikhovo and then took to Moscow a note from his father: The bearer of this letter is the swine that you, Vania and kind Sofia, are so generously taking under your wing… If annoyed or angered he begins to whisper something unintelligible (probably threats)… He detests books… he likes hammering nails, washing up… he loves money and getting sweets… He can't tell the time… he gets into fights. Anton did not ask after his dachshunds or his nephews. He had settled into La Pension Russe so well that, on the dank evenings which kept him to his room, he began to write again.
442
SIXTY-THREE
Dreaming of Algiers November-December 1897 THE PROSPECT of losing his self-respect and his Reinheit by living on Morozov's charity, made Anton write. His works that autumn are small scale: they recall boyhood landscapes: stories like 'The I'ccheneg' and 'Home' evoke the horror of a visitor stumbling onto ë barbarous estate on the Don steppes. Chekhov's block was broken: that autumn 'On the Cart', a picture of a village schoolteacher's despair, owes much to the complaints relayed from Melikhovo. He began 'A Visit to Friends', a story for Cosmopolis: the plot anticipates bis final play The Cherry Orchard. He asked Masha to send the draft of an early story to work on: Masha worked with scissors to make the papers look like a letter rather than a contraband manuscript.
Chekhov's fame was now international. At the end of September, in the Wiener Rundschau, Rudolf Strauss proclaimed:
… we have before us a mighty, mysterious miracle of Strindberg content in Maupassant form; we see exalted union which seemed almost impossible, which nobody has managed before: we love Strindberg, we love Maupassant, therefore we must love Chekhov and love him twice as much. His fame will soon fill the whole world. Masha and Potapenko sent Anton cuttings. Translators (some inept, all enthusiastic) pestered Anton to let them put his works into French, (Izech, Swedish, German and English. One, Denis Roche, stood out: he paid Chekhov 111 francs, half the fee he received for the French version of 'Peasants.'28 Anton was learning a daily quota of French phrases, sending hundreds of French classics for Taganrog library, and even confidently correcting Masha's French. He asked for a journalist's card from Sobolevsky to get the best seats to listen to Patti and Sarah Bernhardt and to attend the Algiers festival. He now frequented Monte Carlo, and won, cautiously betting on low numbers and on
443
FLOW in INC. i i MI i i íè s red and black. Anton was now able to focus on the roulette wheeclass="underline" the pioneer of Russian ophthalmology, I)r Leonard-Leopold Girsh-man, lived in Nice with his tubercular son. Anton treated the son; the father prescribed a new pince-nez for Anton. In November Chekhov weighed himself (with his hat, autumn coat and stick) and found 72 kilos adequate for a man of his height, six foot one.
On 18/30 October La Pension Russe said goodbye to Maxim Kovalevsky, who went to lecture at the Sorbonne. Kovalevsky had promised to take Anton to Algiers, and Anton waited anxiously for his return. Meanwhile he expected Suvorin, but although caviar and smoked sturgeon arrived, Suvorin did not. On 7/19 November Suvorin turned back to Russia, to his wife's surprise, for she thought that Anton would dispel his gloom. Professor Iakobi, although even iller than Anton, was wintering in Russia. Anton confessed to Dr Korobov that he was bleeding again: he took potassium bromate and chloral hydrate every two hours. He told Anna Suvorina on 10/22 November:
… the last haemorrhage which is still going on today, began three weeks ago… I walk slowly, I go nowhere except the street, I don't live, I vegetate. And this irritates me, I am out of spirits… Only for the Lord's sake, don't tell anyone about the bleeding, that is between us… if they find out at home that I am still losing blood, they will shriek. The women in Anton's circle wanted him back in Russia: Evgenia suggested that he come back for Christmas and then leave again. Anna Suvorina lauded Russia's powdery snow and called his illness 'treachery': she blamed it on exertions with Margot and, earlier, with Lidia Iavorskaia. She told him to come to Petersburg. The Suvorins' daughter Nastia was to star in Viktor Krylov's farce Let's Divorce on 20 December. Apart from her acting, her fiances (once the Suvorins gave up the idea of marrying her to Chekhov, Nastia went through several engagements) were the talk of Petersburg.29 Emilie Bijon, however, reminded Anton of the reality of a Russian winter: 'je n'ai pas vu le soleil depuis mon retour…'
In La Pension Russe Anton moved downstairs and saved himself the effort of climbing two flights of stairs. Kovalevsky still promised to accompany Anton to Algiers, but by December he was wavering, telling Sobolevsky:
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 1897
Chekhov was showing blood even before I left Beaulieu. I hear it still happens to him at times. I think he has no idea of the danger of his state, although to my mind he is a typical consumptive. I am frightened of the idea of taking him to Algiers. Suppose he gets even iller? Advise me.30 Anton told Kovalevsky that he 'dreamed of Algiers all day and all night'.
Anton was content in Nice. Russia excelled, he decided, only in matches, sugar, cigarettes, footwear and chemists' shops. Had he been tempted to return early, a letter that Sobolevsky wrote on 12 November would have deterred him: Crossing the Russian frontier after a quiet life abroad is the return of a patient who has been discharged from fresh air into his unventilated room smelling of sickness and medicines… Starting with our governess detained on the border for a passport irregularity and ending with the revolting stench and filth of Moscow in autumn, crowded with cursing drunks, etc., all this put me into a state you could call demoralization.31 Anton appeased Melikhovo with a stream of presents which returning Russians delivered - ties, purses, scissors, corkscrews, gloves, perfume, coin-holders, playing cards, needles. Pavel and Masha were placated; in return they sent all the newspapers. Masha ran two local schools, mediating between a radical schoolteacher and conservative priest; she taught in Moscow; she helped ewes lamb, caught runaway dogs, nursed sick servants, paid off importunate monks. She moaned loudest to Misha (who summoned Evgenia to help his pregnant wife Olga): 'Papa is rebellious… I am not going to let mother go to you soon. There is nobody to do the house work… I am utterly worn out, my head never stops aching. Come for Christmas yourself.'32
Pavel wanted full cupboards for an influx of guests: he stocked up on kvas and begged Misha for ham. Misha sent frozen river fish and fresh grouse from the Volga, so tempting that Pavel induced Evgenia to break their strict fast and eat Arctic herring on a Wednesday. Pavel ordered entertainments from Vania: Mama asks you to bring your Magic Lantern with you with pictures, gifts will be given to the Boys and Girls in the Talezh school on the 2nd day of Christmas and it is good to show, for greater solem
444
445
FLOWI:HIN(; «:I MI I I HIKS
nity, the village schoolchildren piciuies ihey have not yet seen, which will bring them in particular indescribable joy… Antosha will pay for everything." Misha and Olga sent a goose, but did not come. Pavel had promised to teach his grandson Volodia to ride, but Vania came alone. The only guest, to Pavel's disgust, was Maria Drozdova. On Christmas Day the family treated the three local midwives to sausages and vodka. New Year's Eve was little merrier, Pavel wrote: 'Vania and the Schoolteacher came. We had supper at 10. Mile Drozdova got the lucky coin. Then we started playing cards.'