Антон Чехов – The Three Sisters / Три сестры (страница 2)

I r i n a. He’s up to something.

T u z e n b a c h. Yes, he looked so pleased as he went out that I’m pretty certain he’ll bring you a present in a moment.

I r i n a. How unpleasant!

O l g a. Yes, it’s awful. He’s always doing silly things.

M a s h a.

“There stands a green oak by the sea.

And a chain of bright gold is around it …

And a chain of bright gold is around it. …”

O l g a. You’re not very bright today, Masha. [Masha sings, putting on her hat] Where are you off to?

M a s h a. Home.

I r i n a. That’s odd. …

T u z e n b a c h. On a name-day, too!

M a s h a. It doesn’t matter. I’ll come in the evening. Good-bye, dear. [Kisses Masha] Many happy returns, though I’ve said it before. In the old days when father was alive, every time we had a name-day, thirty or forty officers used to come, and there was lots of noise and fun, and today there’s only a man and a half, and it’s as quiet as a desert … I’m off … I’ve got the hump today, and am not at all cheerful, so don’t you mind me. [Laughs through her tears] We’ll have a talk later on, but good-bye for the present, my dear; I’ll go somewhere.

I r i n a. [Displeased] You are queer. …

O l g a. [Crying] I understand you, Masha.

S o l e n i. When a man talks philosophy, well, it is philosophy or at any rate sophistry; but when a woman, or two women, talk philosophy – it’s all my eye.

M a s h a. What do you mean by that, you very awful man?

S o l e n i. Oh, nothing. You came down on me before I could say … help! [Pause.]

M a s h a. [Angrily, to Olga] Don’t cry!

A n f i s a. This way, my dear. Come in, your feet are clean. [To Irina] From the District Council, from Mihail Ivanitch Protopopov … a cake.

I r i n a. Thank you. Please thank him. [Takes the cake.]

F e r a p o n t. What?

I r i n a. [Louder] Please thank him.

O l g a. Give him a pie, nurse. Ferapont, go, she’ll give you a pie.

F e r a p o n t. What?

A n f i s a. Come on, gran’fer, Ferapont Spiridonitch. Come on. [Exeunt.]

M a s h a. I don’t like this Mihail Potapitch or Ivanitch, Protopopov. We oughtn’t to invite him here.

I r i n a. I never asked him.

M a s h a. That’s all right.

O l g a. [Covers her face with her hands] A samovar! That’s awful! [Exit into the dining-room, to the table.]

I r i n a. My dear Ivan Romanovitch, what are you doing!

T u z e n b a c h. [Laughs] I told you so!

M a s h a. Ivan Romanovitch, you are simply shameless!

C h e b u t i k i n. My dear good girl, you are the only thing, and the dearest thing I have in the world. I’ll soon be sixty. I’m an old man, a lonely worthless old man. The only good thing in me is my love for you, and if it hadn’t been for that, I would have been dead long ago. … [To Irina] My dear little girl, I’ve known you since the day of your birth, I’ve carried you in my arms … I loved your dead mother. …

M a s h a. But your presents are so expensive!

C h e b u t i k i n. [Angrily, through his tears] Expensive presents. … You really, are! … [To the orderly] Take the samovar in there. … [Teasing] Expensive presents!

[The orderly goes into the dining-room with the samovar.]

A n f i s a. [Enters and crosses stage] My dear, there’s a strange Colonel come! He’s taken off his coat already. Children, he’s coming here. Irina darling, you’ll be a nice and polite little girl, won’t you. … Should have lunched a long time ago. … Oh, Lord. … [Exit.]

T u z e n b a c h. It must be Vershinin. [Enter Vershinin] Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin!

V e r s h i n i n. [To Masha and Irina] I have the honour to introduce myself, my name is Vershinin. I am very glad indeed to be able to come at last. How you’ve grown! Oh! oh!

I r i n a. Please sit down. We’re very glad you’ve come.

V e r s h i n i n. [Gaily] I am glad, very glad! But there are three sisters, surely. I remember – three little girls. 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. What are you crying for, Masha, you little fool. … [Crying] And I’m crying too.

M a s h a. It’s all right. And where did you live?

V e r s h i n i n. Old Basmanni Road.

O l g a. Same as we.