Letter to Anna Ulyanova, May 2, 1910

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May 2, 1910

Dear Anyuta,

Yesterday I received your letter with the new address. Merci for the congratulations. There is no change at all here. Nadya is feeling rather poorly—her nerves are still not quite in order, although by and large we are all well. I have been cycling for some time and I often go for rides in the country round Paris, especially as we live quite near the fortifications, i.e., near the city boundary. We have not yet decided anything about our summer holidays; the summer here is a late one and it is possible we shall again go to Bombon, where there is a cheap boardinghouse and complete quiet, although Nadya does not seem inclined to go there again. Perhaps this time we will try the socialist colony at the seaside. Y.V. was there last year and liked it.

Give my best regards to the neighbour at Alakayevka if you manage to see him. It is a pity that he is such a convinced enemy of correspondence because it would be pleasant to have some news, if only rarely, from “the heart of Russia” about what is going on in the new village. There is little information on this subject and it would be very pleasant just to have a chat with some knowledgeable person.

Regards to the North Manchurian also. How is he getting fixed up now, and will he rid himself of the “weakness” of the Russians ... and not only of writers?...

With regard to my grudge against the doctor (whom you asked me to do something to help) you were quite wrong, or perhaps I accidentally said something tactless. I have never had and still do not have the slightest grudge against him. He makes a good impression. We never got to know each other closely. Now he has moved out of town, where the children will be better off. He is in very poor circumstances; he has only just managed to find some temporary work for the tiniest imaginable emolument. I very seldom see him. The émigrés here are very poor.

My work is going extremely badly. I hope to get over this period of intense squabbling and will then return to my work.

All the best. Regards to Mark. Best wishes from all.

Yours,

V. U.

Dear Anya,

I received your letter about our acquaintance a long time ago and answered it immediately in a letter to Manyasha. I have certain reasons for thinking that my letter was lost, although Manyasha answered one of the questions raised in it. I asked her to write and say whether she had received that letter but she hasn’t written. The acquaintance to whom you asked me to show the letter is not here now and, furthermore, what I wrote to you was not said to him but to another person. I will write in detail in a few days. Many kisses. Regards to M.T. Mother sends regards.

N. K.