Written in Melikhovo in mid-1898, the story was sent to Russkaya Mysl on 28 July of that year and was first published in this magazine's No.8, August issue. In a slightly revised version it was included into Volume 12 of the 1903, second edition of the Collected Works by A.P. Chekhov, and then into Volume 11 of the third, posthumous 1906 edition.[1]