Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovHe. “He is living with mother.”I. “Is your mother married or a widow?”He. “A widow. She followed her husband here.”I. “What has become of her husband, then?”He. “She killed him.”I. “Do you remember your father?”He. “No, I don’t, I am illegitimate. I was born when mother was atKara.”On the Amur steamer going to Sahalin, there was a convict withfetters on his legs who had murdered his wife. His daughter, a littlegirl of six, was with him. I noticed wherever the convict moved thelittle girl scrambled after him, holding on to his fetters. At night thechild slept with the convicts and soldiers all in a heap together. Iremember I was at a funeral in Sahalin. Beside the newly dug gravestood four convict bearers ex officio; the treasury clerk and I, in thecapacity of Hamlet and Horatio, wandering about the cemetery;the dead woman’s lodger, a Circassian, who had come because hehad nothing better to do; and a convict woman who had come outof pity and had brought the dead woman’s two children, one a baby,and the other, Alyoshka, a boy of four, wearing a woman’s jacketand blue breeches with bright-coloured patches on the knees. It wascold and damp, there was water in the grave, the convicts were laughing.The sea was in sight. Alyoshka looked into the grave with curiosity;he tried to wipe his chilly nose, but the long sleeve of hisjacket got into his way. When they began to fill in the grave I askedhim: “Alyoshka, where is your mother?” He waved his hand withthe air of a gentleman who has lost at cards, laughed, and said:“They have buried her!”The convicts laughed, the Circassian turned and asked what he215