The Three Sisters / Три сестры

I forget your faces, but your father, Colonel Prosorov, used to have three little girls, I remember that perfectly, I saw them with my own eyes. How time does fly! Oh, dear, how it flies!

T u z e n b a c h. Alexander Ignateyevitch comes from Moscow.

I r i n a. From Moscow? Are you from Moscow?

V e r s h i n i n. Yes, that’s so. Your father used to be in charge of a battery there, and I was an officer in the same brigade. [To Masha] I seem to remember your face a little.

M a s h a. I don’t remember you.

I r i n a. Olga! Olga! [Shouts into the dining-room] Olga! Come along! [Olga enters from the dining-room] Lieutenant Colonel Vershinin comes from Moscow, as it happens.

V e r s h i n i n. I take it that you are Olga Sergeyevna, the eldest, and that you are Maria … and you are Irina, the youngest. …

O l g a. So you come from Moscow?

V e r s h i n i n. Yes. I went to school in Moscow and began my service there; I was there for a long time until at last I got my battery and moved over here, as you see.

I don’t really remember you, I only remember that there used to be three sisters. I remember your father well; I have only to shut my eyes to see him as he was. I used to come to your house in Moscow. …

O l g a. I used to think I remembered everybody, but …

V e r s h i n i n. My name is Alexander Ignateyevitch.

I r i n a. Alexander Ignateyevitch, you’ve come from Moscow. That is really quite a surprise!

O l g a. We are going to live there, you see.

I r i n a. We think we may be there this autumn. It’s our native town, we were born there. In Old Basmanni Road. … [They both laugh for joy.]

M a s h a. We’ve unexpectedly met a fellow countryman. [Briskly] I remember: Do you remember, Olga, they used to speak at home of a “lovelorn Major.” You were only a Lieutenant then, and in love with somebody, but for some reason they always called you a Major for fun.

V e r s h i n i n. [Laughs] That’s it … the lovelorn Major, that’s got it!

M a s h a.

You only wore moustaches then. You have grown older! [Through her tears] You have grown older!

V e r s h i n i n. Yes, when they used to call me the lovelorn Major, I was young and in love. I’ve grown out of both now.

O l g a. But you haven’t a single white hair yet. You’re older, but you’re not yet old.

V e r s h i n i n. I’m forty-two, anyway. Have you been away from Moscow long?

I r i n a. Eleven years.