Again and again Chekhov had to postpone his departure. The "brutal coughing," as he described it to Olga, left him extremely weak, and he did not dare leave the house to go into town. At the end of August he assured his impatient wife that he was really not happy at Yalta, and in an effort to cheer her up he told her of the visit of his brilliant journalist friend, Doroshevich, who had said some handsome things about the Art Theater, and especially about her acting: "I take my dog by the tail," he whimsically concluded, "swing her around several times, and then stroke and pet her." (August 29, 1902.)
By the middle of September cooler weather came to Yalta, some rain fell, and the dust settled. Chekhov began to cough less, to eat more. In his letters to Olga he now grew definite about the time of his arrival in Moscow — early in October. In a happy mood he answered her conjecture that they were incomplete people and that he would be bored if he lived with her constantly: "I don't know, darling, whether I'm incomplete or not, I'm only certain that the longer I lived with you the deeper and broader my love would become. So, my actress, just realize that. And if it were not for my illness, it would be difficult to find a more settled man than I am." (September 20, 1902.)
Once Chekhov had made it quite clear that he would come, Olga began to exercise a surprising degree of caution. She warned him of the inhospitable Moscow weather in the autumn, the cold and slush. Why did he not remain in Yalta until the spring, she asked, and she would do her best to obtain a vacation that winter and visit him. Yet each letter of concern about his health and the risks of his taking the trip contained an expression of how wonderful it would be if they could only get together.
Finally, Chekhov submitted to the medical examination by Dr. Altschuler which he had refused during this whole stay in Yalta. And on September 22 he reported the results to Olga: "He found that my health has considerably improved and, if one may judge by the change that has taken place since the spring, that the disease is on the way to being cured; he even sanctioned my going to Moscow —it was so splendidl He says that I must not go now, but wait for the first frost. There, you seel He says that creosote helped me and the fact that I spent the winter in Yalta, and I replied that it was the holiday at Lyubi- movka that did it. I don't know which of us is right. Altschuler demands that I leave Moscow almost as soon as I get there. I replied: 'I'll leave in December when my wife lets me.' "
How faithfully Chekhov reported Altschuler's diagnosis on this and other occasions is unknown. In his memoirs, Altschuler writes: "Olga Leonardovna, in her letters, often summoned him to Moscow. I tried in every way to oppose this. Hence she did everything possible to undermine my influence. And Anton Pavlovich tried in his letters to placate her in this situation and thus frequently sacrificed the truth."
In any event Olga's reaction to Chekhov's report was ecstatic: "An- toshka, my sweet golden boy, we shall see each other soonl!! Hurrah!!! Once again one may live with hope, be gay, and now it will not always be so black! How I'll kiss you, how I'll gaze on you, examine every bit of my wonderful man." She imagined their meeting at the station. Of course, she wrote, he would show the greatest indifference and ask about irrelevant matters, but, she assured him, she would know what was going on inside him at that moment.
Chekhov packed his mother off to Petersburg to visit Misha — he was again worried about her being alone at Yalta. And Masha also left for a short stay in Petersburg; she apparently did not relish being in the Moscow apartment when their reunion, after a quarrel in which she was involved, took place. Against Olga's warnings to come prepared for the weather, he replied that he would travel with his autumn overcoat, galoshes, and laprobe, and that she should meet him with his fur coat if it were very cold. In her letter to him on October 10, just before he left for Moscow, Olga promised to have on hand the cod- liver oil and creosote he asked for; and there will be beer and a bath, she added. "How I wish to live with you!" she wrote. "I wish to feel myself close to you, always, always."
CHAPTER XXVI
"To Moscow, to Moscow!"
The reunion of Chekhov and Olga after their quarrel was a continuous delight. He not only had his wife again, but all the attractions of Moscow which so fascinated him. He admired the new Art Theater, the comfortable quarters of the actors, the simplicity of the decorations, and with pleasure he saw its production of Tolstoy's Power of Darkness. Chekhov enthusiastically wrote to Sulerzhitsky that V. I. Kachalov had taken Meierhold's place in The Three Sisters and did brilliantly, and that Uncle Vanya, as usual, was performed marvelously.
Many visitors left husband and wife little time to themselves. Gorky, who had been permitted to reside in Moscow again, was there for the rehearsal of his play, The Lower Depths. And among the other callcrs were such cclcbritics as Bunin, Chaliapin, Diaghilev, Mcnshikov, Rossolimo, and Suvorin. Very cold weather frequently confincd Chekhov to the apartment, so there was often no evading the callers either day or night. He had hoped to do some writing; he soon informed Batyushkov, however, that sickncss had prevented him from working at Yalta, but in Moscow it was visitors. Chekhov had expected to remain until well into December, and then leave for Italy with his friend Mirolyubov. As usual, however, the excitcmcnt and swift pace of Moscow life soon told on him. He began to cough and feel unwell, and after a stay of only five weeks, he was compelled, with many regrets, to return to his "dull Yalta home."
The ebb and flow of Chekhov's life had taken on a disheartening sameness. That December the depressing routine of Yalta existence was varied by very few interesting or chcerful happenings. The town was electrified by the presence of Nicholas II at the dedication of a new church. Extraordinary and often annoying precautions were taken to protect the Tsar. Chekhov, who did not attend, derived some satisfaction from the delight of his aged mother who saw the whole ceremony, to which she was admitted by special ticket. It amused Chekhov to learn at this time that the archbishop, in a visit to the local school, had disparaged his writings but praised Gorky's. In Moscow Gorky had involved Olga in his personal crusade, which he still continued, to break Chekhov's publishing contract with Marx. Olga, convinced that her husband stood to gain a great deal financially, used her best efforts to persuade him. But he wrote her: "I don't relish bothering about that agreement. Nothing will come of it. Once you have signed a contract, you must abide by it honestly no matter what the cost." (December 4, 1902.)
Later that month, when Chekhov received a telegram from Stanislavsky that the opening performance of Gorky's The Lower Depths had been an astounding success, he sincerely rejoiced, both for his friend and for the Art Theater, which at this point, lacking a new play by Chekhov in its repertoire, desperately needed a fresh triumph. Olga, who once again had been singled out by the critics for her acting, gave Chekhov a full account of the large expensive party which the enraptured Gorky had tendered the troupe and various friends after the premiere, an affair that ended in a brawl caused by a huge drunken actor. Chekhov commented rather humorously that if he had been present he would have exchanged blows with the brawny culprit.
Chekhov's own failure to get on with the writing of The Cherry Orchard was perhaps somewhat assuaged by the news that The Sea Gull had finally triumphed in the Petersburg Alexandrinsky Theater. Mindful of its catastrophic failure there six years earlier, he had discouraged every effort to revive it in that theater. But he had finally drifted into compliance, perhaps somewhat persuaded by a need for money — because of lack of funds, he had just been obliged to turn down a request of brother Misha for a loan. The Alexandrinsky had offered him an increased royalty rate. In any event, he now took particular satisfaction in the success of The Sea Gull in that theater.