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 THE MOSCOW ART 
 THEATRE SERIES 
 OF RUSSIAN PLAYS 
 
 DIRECTION OF MORRIS GEST 
 Edited by OLIVER M. SAYLER 
 
 VOLUME IV 
 
 THE 
 THREE SISTERS 
 
 A DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS 
 
 BY 
 ANTON TCHEKHOFF 
 
 English translation by 
 JENNY COVAN 
 
 NEW YORK 
 BRENTANOS 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 
Copyright, 1922, by MORRIS GEST 
 All rights reserved 
 
 CU697384 
 
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 4* Л 
 

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 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Like "The Cherry Orchard," which it preceded to the 
 stage by three years, Anton TchekhofPs "The Three 
 Sisters" is a veracious and illuminating cross section of 
 Russian life among the provincial intelligentsia prior to 
 the Revolution of 1905. Traces of this dull, drab, 
 monotonous existence, in which smoldering passion flares 
 up fitfully, survived that upheaval and as before became 
 one of the causes of the contemporary Revolution. Ap- 
 parently, that life is obliterated to-day, and so even if 
 "The Three Sisters" had no compelling human appeal, 
 it would be invaluable as an artist's eye-witness account 
 of a departed epoch. 
 
 But it has a compelling human appeal, with its re- 
 current refrain of pensive ambition thwarted at every 
 turn, and thwarted, too, by characteristics existing along- 
 side the ambition rather than by outside influences. 
 
 That appeal will be apparent to the reader and in 
 highly intensified degree to the spectator of the Moscow 
 Art Theatre's searchingly intimate interpretation of the 
 play. It is interesting to recount here the human side of 
 the composition and production of "The Three Sisters." 
 
 This deeply moving drama of suppressed longings was 
 the first of TchekhofPs plays to be w r ritten expressly for 
 the theatre which had found its own function through 
 opening for him a channel on the Russian stage. "The 
 Sea-Gull" had merely been rescued from previous failure 
 in Petrograd. "Uncle Vanya" had been snatched by 
 Stanislavsky from timid and over-fastidious hands at the 
 Small Imperial Theatre. "The Three Sisters," on the 
 other hand, was composed with Stanislavsky and his 
 artists particularly in mind as its interpreters, but only 
 after extraordinary proof to the playwright that the 
 Moscow Art Theatre was his legitimate outlet. 
 
 Ill health had kept Tchekhoff in the Crimea, pre- 
 
iv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 venting him from seeing the Art Theatre's productions 
 of "The Sea-Gull" and "Uncle Vanya." He only half- 
 believed the rumors of their success. To convince him, 
 therefore, and to elicit the desired new manuscript, the 
 entire company journeyed southward at the close of the 
 Moscow season in the spring of 1900 and gave special 
 performances in Sevastopol and Yalta for TchekhofTs 
 benefit. 
 
 "The Three Sisters" was written at Yalta in the 
 summer of 1900, rewritten in Moscow in early autumn, 
 read to the actors for the first time in the presence of 
 the author, placed in rehearsal and produced February 
 13 (our calendar), 1901. During rehearsals, Tchekhoff 
 fled with misgivings to Nice and as the date of the 
 premiere approached, he concealed his whereabouts in 
 Naples, without the faintest hope that the play would 
 achieve the success it did. 
 
 Still, to this period belongs the most intimate relation- 
 ship achieved between playhouse and playwright. 
 Tchekhoff's advice was sought and given on matters per- 
 taining to the rest of the repertory. And it was at this 
 time that the company's leading actress, Mme. Knipper, 
 became his wife. 
 
 Some one has said that in his methods as a producer, 
 Stanislavsky has heeded the dicta of Diderot: "No 
 emotion can be interpreted with success except in a mod- 
 erate and chastened form"; and "Restraint is essential 
 in all artistic interpretation." Restraint, minimization, the 
 loosening of the tension and the sharpening of the atten- 
 tion — these, assuredly, are the secrets not only of the pro- 
 ducer of "The Three Sisters" but of its author, as well. 
 
 It is significant to note in conclusion that to-day, 
 twenty-two years after its first performance, five of the 
 most important roles in "The Three Sisters" are still 
 played by the same actors who originally embodied them 
 and found their inspiration in the unobtrusive but pene- 
 trating guidance of the playwright himself. 
 
 The Editor. 
 
CAST OF CHARACTERS. 
 
 Andrei Sergeievitch Prozoroff. 
 Natalia Ivanovna (Natasha) — 
 
 His fiancee, later his wife. 
 Olga 
 
 Masha VHis sisters. 
 Irina 
 Fyodor Ilyitch Kuligin — 
 
 High school teacher; married to Masha. 
 Alexander Ignateievitch Vershinin — 
 
 Lieutenant-Colonel in charge of a battery. 
 Nikolai Lvovitch Tuzenbach — 
 
 Baron, Lieutenant in the army. 
 Vassily Vassilievitch Solyony — Captain. 
 Ivan Romanovitch Tchebutikin — Army doctor. 
 Alexei Petrovitch Fedotik — Second lieutenant. 
 Vladimir Carlovitch Rode — Second lientenant. 
 Ferapont — 
 
 Door-keeper at local council offices, an old man. 
 Anfisa — Nurse. 
 
 The action takes place in a provincial town. 
 
ACT ONE. 
 
 In Prozoroff's home. A sitting-room with pillars; 
 behind is seen a large living-room. It is midday, outside 
 the sun is shining brightly. In the living-room the table 
 is being laid for lunch. 
 
 Olga, in the regulation blue dress of a teacher at a 
 girVs high school, is walking about correcting exercise 
 books; Masha, in a black dress, her hat in her lap, sits and 
 reads a book; Irina, in white, stands at one side, deep in 
 thought. 
 
 Olga. Father died just a year ago, on the fifth of May, 
 your birthday, Irina. It was very cold and it snowed. I 
 thought I would never survive it, and you fainted dead 
 away. Now a year has gone by and we are already 
 thinking of it without pain, and you are dressed in white 
 and you seem cheerful. [Clock strikes twelve] And the 
 clock struck just the same way then. [Pause] I remem- 
 ber that there was music at the funeral, and they fired 
 a volley across the grave. He was a Brigadier-General 
 yet there were few people present. Of course, it was 
 raining, raining hard, and snowing. 
 
 Irina. Why recall it? 
 
 [Baron Tuzenbach, Tchebutikin and Solyony appear by 
 the table in the living-room, behind the pillars] 
 
 Olga. It's so warm to-day that we can keep the win- 
 dows open, though the birch trees are not yet in flower. 
 Father was put in command of a brigade, and he left 
 
 i 
 
2 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Moscow with us eleven years ago. I remember perfectly 
 that it was early May and everything in Moscow was in 
 bloom. It was warm, too, everything was bathed in sun- 
 shine. Eleven years have gone, and I remember every- 
 thing as if it were only yesterday. Oh, God ! This morn- 
 ing when I awakened and saw the glorious sunshine and 
 the budding spring, my heart filled with joy, and I longed 
 so much to go home. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Will you bet on it? 
 
 Tuzenbach. Oh, nonsense. 
 
 [Masha, lost in reverie over her book, whistles softly] 
 
 Olga. Don't whistle, Masha. How can you! [Pause] 
 With teaching High School every day and giving lessons 
 every evening, I have headaches all the time. Strange 
 thoughts come to me, as if I were alreadv an old woman. 
 And really, during the four years that I have been work- 
 ing here, I have felt as if every day my strength and 
 youth were being squeezed out of me, drop by drop. And 
 only one desire grows and gains in strength. . . . 
 
 Irina. To go to Moscow. To sell the house, leave 
 everything here, and go to Moscow . . . 
 
 Olga. Yes ! To Moscow, and as soon as possible. 
 
 [Tchebutikin and Tuzenbach laugh] 
 
 Irina. I expect brother will become a professor, but 
 (Still, he won't wish to live here. Poor Masha is the only 
 drawback. 
 
 Olga. Masha will come to Moscow every year, for 
 the whole summer. 
 
 [Masha is whistling gently] 
 
 Irina. God willing, everything will be arranged. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 3 
 
 [Looks out of the window] It's nice out to-day. I don't 
 know why I'm so gay. I remembered this morning it was 
 my birthday, and suddenly I felt so happy^nd thought of 
 my childhood days, when mother was still with us. What 
 glorious thoughts I had, what thoughts! 
 
 Olga. You're all radiance to-day, I've never seen you 
 look so lovely. And Masha is pretty, too. Andrei 
 wouldn!t be bad-looking, if he hadn't taken on so much 
 weight; it does spoil his appearance. But I've grown 
 old and very thin ; I suppose it's because I get angry with 
 the girls at school. To-day I'm free. I'm at home. I 
 haven't a headache, and I feel younger than I did yester- 
 day. I'm only twenty-eight. . . . All's well, God is 
 everywhere, but it seems to me that if only I were married 
 and could stay at home all day, it would be «even better. 
 [Pause] I would love my husband. 
 
 Tuzenbach [to Solyony] I'm tired of listening to 
 your rot. [Entering the sitting-room] I forgot to say 
 that Vershinin, our new Lieutenant-Colonel of artillery, 
 is coming to see us to-day. [Sits downwt the piano] 
 
 Olga. Well — I'm very glad. 
 
 Irina. Is he old? 
 
 Tuzenbach. Not very. Forty or forty-five, at the 
 most. [Plays softly] He seems rather a good sort. He's 
 certainly no fool, only he likes to hear himself talk. 
 
 Irina. Is he interesting? 
 
 Tuzenbach. Oh, he's all right, but there's his wife, 
 his mother-in-law, and two daughters. This is his second 
 wife. He pays visits and tells everybody that he has a 
 wife and two daughters. He'll tell you so, too, when he 
 
4 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 comes here. His wife is half-witted, she wears her hair in 
 a braid down her back and talks a blue streak. She 
 philosophizes, and tries to commit suicide frequently, ap- 
 parently in order to annoy her husband. In his place I 
 would have left her long ago, but he bears up patiently, 
 and only complains. 
 
 Solyony [enters with Tchebutikin from the living- 
 room'] With one hand I can lift only fifty-four pounds, 
 but with both hands I can lift 180, or even 200. From 
 this I conclude that two men are not twice as strong as 
 one, but three times, perhaps even more. . . . 
 
 Tchebutikin [reads a newspaper as he walks'] If 
 your hair is coming out . . . take an ounce of naph- 
 thaline and half a bottle of alcohol . . . dissolve and use 
 daily. . . . [Makes a note in his pocket diary] I'll make 
 a note of it! [To Solyony] Listen. You cork the bottle 
 well, push a glass tube through the cork. . . . Then you 
 take a small quantity of . . . 
 
 Irina. Ivan Romanovitch, dear Ivan Romanovitch ! 
 
 Tchebutikin. Well, what is it, my dear little girl? 
 
 Irina. Why am I so happy to-day? I feel as if I were 
 sailing under a great blue sky with huge white birds 
 around me. Why is that? Why? 
 
 Tchebutikin [kisses her hands, tenderly] My white 
 bird. . . . 
 
 Irina. When I awoke this morning and got up and 
 washed, everything was like an open book to me, and I 
 seemed to grasp the meaning of life. Dear Ivan Romano- 
 vitch, I understand everything. Every one must toil in 
 the sweat of his brow, whoever he may be. In this alone 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 5 
 
 is the aim and object of his life, his happiness, his ambi- 
 tion. How splendid it is to be a workman who gets up 
 at daybreak and breaks stones in the street, or a shepherd, 
 or a schoolmaster, who teaches children, or a railroad 
 mechanic. . . . My God, if I can't be a man who works, 
 I would rather be an ox, or a horse, or any work animal, 
 than a young woman who wakes up at twelve o'clock, has 
 her coffee in bed, and then spends two hours dress- 
 ing. • . . Oh, it's awful ! Sometimes I crave work as a 
 thirsty man craves water on a hot day. And if I don't 
 get up early in the future and work, Ivan Romanovitch, 
 then you may refuse me your friendship. 
 
 Tchebutikin [tenderly] I agree, I agree. . . . 
 
 Olga. Father used to make us get up at seven. Now 
 Irina wakes at seven and lies and meditates about some- 
 thing till nine at least. And she looks so serious! 
 [Laughs] 
 
 Irina; You're so used to me as a little girl that it 
 seems queer to you that I should ever be serious. I'm 
 twenty! 
 
 Tuzenbach. I can understand that craving for work. 
 God ! I've never worked in my life. I was born in chilly, 
 lazy Petersburg, of a family that never needed to work 
 nor ever had to worry. I remember when I came home 
 from my regiment, a footman had to pull off my boots 
 while I fidgeted and my mother gazed at me in adoration 
 and wondered when others looked on disapprovingly. 
 They shielded me from work; they almost succeeded, al- 
 most ! The day of reckoning is here. Something formid- 
 able is threatening us ; a strong, cleansing storm is gather- 
 
6 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 ing; it is coming nearer and nearer; it will soon sweep 
 our world clean of laziness, indifference, prejudice against 
 work, and wretched boredom. I shall soon work, and 
 within twenty-five or thirty years, every one will work! 
 Every one ! 
 
 Tchebutikin. I shan't work. 
 
 Tuzenbach. You do not matter. 
 
 Solyony. In twenty-five years' time, we shall all be 
 dead, thank the Lord. In two or three years a stroke 
 will carry you off, or else I'll grow impatient and blow 
 your brains out, my angel. 
 
 [Takes a scent-bottle out of his pocket and sprays his 
 chest and hands~\ 
 
 Tchebutikin [laughs] It's quite true, I have never 
 done anything in my life. After I left the university I 
 never moved a finger or opened a book, I just read the 
 papers. . . . [Takes another newspaper out of his pocket] 
 Here we are. . . . According to the papers there used to 
 be a writer, named Dobroluboff, but what he wrote — I 
 don't know • . . God only knows . . . [Rapping is 
 heard from the -floor below] There. . . . They're calling 
 me downstairs, somebody's come to see me. I'll be back 
 in a minute . . . won't be long . . . [Exit hurriedly, 
 scratching his beard] 
 
 Irina. He's up to something. 
 
 Tuzenbach. Yes, he looked so pleased as he went 
 out that I'm pretty certain he'll bring you a present in a 
 moment. 
 
 Irina. How unpleasant ! 
 
 Olga. Yes, it's awful. He's always doing silly things. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 7 
 
 Masha. "A green oak stands by the sea. 
 
 A chain of gold around it . . . 
 A chain of gold around it . • » n 
 
 [Masha rises and hums softly"] 
 
 Olga. You're not very cheerful to-day, Masha. 
 [Masha hums, putting on her hat] Where are you off to? 
 
 Masha. Home. 
 
 Irina. That's odd. . . . 
 
 Tuzenbach. Leaving the birthday party? 
 
 Masha. It doesn't matter. I'll come back in the 
 evening. Good-bye, dear. [Kisses Irina] Once more let 
 me wish you many happy returns ! In the old days when 
 father was alive, every time we had a birthday, thirty or 
 forty officers used to come, and there was plenty of noise 
 and fun, and to-day there's only a man and a half, and 
 it's as quiet as the grave. I'm off . . . I'm out of sorts 
 to-day, and gloomy, so don't you mind me. [Laughs 
 through her tears] We'll talk later on. Good-by for 
 the present, my dear; I'll go somewhere. 
 
 Irina [displeased] You are queer. . . . 
 
 Olga [crying] I understand you, Masha. 
 
 Solyony. 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 nonsense. 
 
 Masha. What do you mean by that, you awful 
 creature? 
 
 Solyony. Oh, nothing. You jump on me before I 
 can say Booh! [Pause.] 
 
 Masha [angrily, to Olga] Stop bawling! 
 
8 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 [Enter Anfisa and Ferapont with a cake] 
 
 Anfisa. This way, my dear. Come in, your feet are 
 clean. [To Irina] The District Council, from Mikhail 
 Ivanitch Protopopoff sends this cake. 
 
 Irina. Thank you. Please thank him. [Takes the 
 cake] 
 
 Ferapont. What ? 
 
 Irina [louder] Please thank him. 
 
 Olga. Give him some pie, nurse. Ferapont, go, 
 you'll get some pie. 
 
 Ferapont. What ? 
 
 Anfisa. Come on, grand-dad, Ferapont Spiridonitch. 
 Come on. [Exeunt] 
 
 Masha. I don't like this Mikhail Potapitch or Ivan- 
 itch, Protopopoff. We should not invite him here. 
 
 Irina. I never asked him. 
 
 Masha. That's right. 
 
 [Enter Tchebutikin followed by a soldier carrying a 
 silver samovar; there are exclamations of astonishment 
 and dissatisfaction] 
 
 Olga [covers her face with her hands] A samovar! 
 That's terrible! [Exit into the living-room, walks up to 
 table] 
 
 Irina. My dear Ivan Romanovitch, what are you 
 doing! 
 
 Tuzenbach [laughs] I told you so! 
 
 Masha. Ivan Romanovitch, you are absolutely shame- 
 less! 
 
 Tchebutikin. My dear ones, you are all I have, 
 everything I care for in all the world. I'll soon be sixty. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 9 
 
 I'm an old man, a lonely insignificant old man. The one 
 good thing about me is my love for you, and if it hadn't 
 been for that, I would have died long ago. ... [To 
 Irind\ My dear little girl, Гѵе known you since you were 
 born, I've carried you in my arms. ... I loved your 
 dead mother. . . . 
 
 Masha. But why such expensive presents? 
 
 Tchebutikin [angrily, through his tears] Expensive 
 presents . . . You should be scolded! . . . [To the 
 orderly] Take the samovar in there . . . [teasing] Ex- 
 pensive presents ! 
 
 [The Orderly goes into the living-room with the 
 samovar] 
 
 Anfisa [enters and crosses stage] My dear, a strange 
 Colonel is calling! He's taken off his coat already, 
 children, he's coming in here. Irina darling, you'll be a 
 nice and polite little girl, won't you? . . . [Going into 
 living-room] It's long past the lunch hour. . , . Oh 
 Lord . . . [Exit] 
 
 Tuzenbach. It must be Vershinin. [Enter Ver- 
 shinin] Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin! 
 
 Vershinin [to Masha and Irina] I have the honor of 
 introducing myself, my name is Vershinin. I am very 
 glad that I've met you at last. Why — you are grown 
 up! Dear! Dear! 
 
 Irina. Please sit down. We're very glad you came. 
 
 Vershinin [gayly] I am glad, so very glad! But 
 there are three sisters, surely. I remember — three little 
 girls. I forget your faces, but your father, Colonel Pro- 
 zoroff, used to have three little girls; I remember that 
 
ю THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 perfectly ; I saw them with my own eyes. How time does 
 fly ! Oh, dear, how it does fly ! 
 
 Tuzenbach. Alexander Ignateievitch comes from 
 Moscow. 
 
 Irina. From Moscow? Are you from Moscow? 
 
 Vershinin. Yes, from Moscow. Your late father 
 used to command a battery there, and I was an officer in 
 the same brigade. [To Masha] I seem to remember 
 your face a little. 
 
 Masha. I don't remember you. 
 
 Irina. Olga! Olga! [Shouts into the living-room] 
 Olga! Come here! [Olga enters from living-room] 
 Lieutenant-Colonel Vershinin comes from Moscow, it ap- 
 pears. 
 
 Vershinin. You are doubtless Olga Sergeievna, the 
 eldest, and you are Maria . . . and you Irina, the 
 youngest. . . . 
 
 Olga. So you come from Moscow? 
 
 Vershinin. Yes. I went to school in Moscow and 
 entered the army there; I served there for a long time 
 until at last I got my battery and was transferred here, 
 as you see. I don't really remember you, I only re- 
 member that there were three sisters. I have a vivid 
 recollection of your father. I have only to shut my eyes 
 to see him as if he were alive. I used to visit your house 
 in Moscow. . . . 
 
 Olga. I always thought I remembered everybody, 
 but . . . 
 
 Vershinin. My name is Alexander Ignateievitch. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS n 
 
 Irina. Alexander Ignateievitch, youVe come from 
 Moscow. What a surprise ! 
 
 Olga. We are going there, to live, you see. 
 
 Irina. We expect to be there by autumn. It's our 
 native town; we were born there, in Old Basmanny 
 Street . . . [They both laugh gayly] 
 
 Mash a. We've unexpectedly met a fellow townsman. 
 [Briskly] I remember now: 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 in 
 fun. 
 
 Vershinin [laughs] That's it . . . the lovelorn 
 Major, that's it! 
 
 Masha. You wore only mustaches then. You have 
 grown older! [Through her tears] How you have grown 
 older ! 
 
 Vershinin. Yes, when they used to call me the love- 
 lorn Major, I was young and in love. I've grown out of 
 both now. 
 
 Olga. But you haven't a single white hair. You're 
 older, but you're not yet old. 
 
 Vershinin. Still, I'm forty-two. Have you been 
 away from Moscow long? 
 
 Irina. Eleven years. What are you crying for, 
 Masha, you little fool . . . [Crying] And I'm crying, 
 too. 
 
 Masha. It's all right. And where did you live? 
 
 Vershinin. In Old Basmanny Street. 
 
 Olga. So did we. 
 
12 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Vershinin. Once I lived in Niemetskaya Street. 
 That was when the Red Barracks were my headquarters. 
 There's a gloomy bridge in between with the water rush- 
 ing below. One grows melancholy when one is alone 
 there. [Pause] Here the river is so wide and fine ! It's 
 a splendid river! 
 
 Olga. Yes, but it's so cold. It's very cold here, and 
 the mosquitoes 
 
 Vershinin. What are you saying! Here you have 
 such a fine healthy Russian climate. You've a forest, a 
 river . . . and birches. Dear, modest birches, I like 
 them more than any other tree. It's good to live here. 
 Only it's odd that the railway station should be thirteen 
 miles away. . . . Nobody knows why. 
 
 Solyony. I know why. [All look at him] Because 
 if it was near it wouldn't be far off, and if it's far off, 
 it can't be near. 
 
 [An awkward pause] 
 
 Tuzenbach. Vassily Vassilievitch — he is always 
 jesting! 
 
 Olga. Now I know who you are. I remember. 
 
 Vershinin. I used to know your mother. 
 
 Tchebutikin. She was a good woman, God rest 
 her soul. 
 
 Irina. Mother is buried in Moscow. 
 
 Olga. At the Novo-Devitsky Cemetery. 
 
 Mash a. Imagine, I'm beginning to forget her face. 
 We'll be forgotten the same way — forgotten ! 
 
 Vershinin. Yes, forgotten! It's our fate, it can't 
 be helped. The time will come when everything that 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 13 
 
 seems serious, significant, or very important to us will 
 be forgotten, or considered trivial. [Pause] And the 
 curious thing is that we can't possibly find out what will 
 come to be regarded as great and important, and what 
 will be worthless or ridiculous. Didn't the discoveries 
 of Copernicus, or Columbus, say, seem unnecessary and 
 ludicrous at first, while rubbish written by a fool was 
 considered the whole truth? And it may happen that 
 our present mode of life with which we are so satisfied, 
 will in time appear strange, inconvenient, stupid, un- 
 clean, perhaps even sinful. . . . 
 
 Tuzenbach. Who knows? But, on the other hand, 
 they may call our life noble and honor its memory. 
 We've abolished torture and capital punishment, we 
 live in security, but how much suffering there is still! 
 
 Solyony [in a feeble voice] There, there. . . . The 
 Baron will go without his dinner if you only let him 
 talk philosophy. 
 
 Tuzenbach. Vassily Vassilievitch, please leave me 
 alone. [Takes another chair] This is a bore, you know. 
 
 Solyony [feebly] There, there, there. 
 
 Tuzenbach [to Vershinin] The amount of suffering 
 we see to-day — there is so much of it ! — shows that 
 society has already reached a specific moral improvement. 
 
 Vershinin. Yes, yes, of course. 
 
 Tchebutikin. You said just now, Baron, that they 
 may call our life noble; but we are very petty. . . . 
 [Stands up] See how small I am. But I can console 
 myself by saying that my life is noble and lofty. [Violin 
 played back stage] 
 
14 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Masha. That's Andrei playing — our brother. 
 
 Irina. He's a cultured man. I expect he will be a 
 professor some day. Father was a soldier, but his son 
 chose an academic career. 
 
 Masha. That was father's wish. 
 
 Olga. We teased him to-day. We think he's a bit in 
 love. 
 
 Irina. With a girl in town. She will probably be 
 here to-day. 
 
 Masha. You should see the way she dresses! Quite 
 prettily, quite fashionably, too, but so unbecomingly! 
 Some queer bright yellow skirt with a wretched little 
 fringe and a red bodice. And her cheeks look so washed 
 out, so washed out! Andrei isn't in love; I can't believe 
 it. After all, he has taste! He's simply making fun of 
 us. I heard yesterday that she was going to marry 
 Protopopoff, the chairman of the Local Council. That 
 would do her nicely. . . . [At the side door] Andrei, 
 come here! Just for a minute, dear! 
 
 [Enter Andrei] 
 
 Olga. My brother, Andrei Sergeievitch. 
 
 Vershinin. My name is Vershinin. 
 
 Andrei. Mine is Prozoroff. [Wipes his perspiring 
 face] You've come to take charge of the battery? 
 
 Olga. Just think, Alexander Ignateievitch comes 
 from Moscow. 
 
 Andrei. That's all right. Now my little sisters 
 won't give you any rest. 
 
 Vershinin. I've already managed to bore them. 
 
 Irina. Just look what a nice little picture frame 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 15 
 
 Andrei gave me to-day. [Shows it] He made it himself. 
 
 Vershinin [looks at the frame and does not know 
 what to say] Yes. . . . It's a thing that . . . 
 
 Irina. And he made that frame over there, on the 
 piano as well. [Andrei waves his hand and walks away] 
 
 Olga. He has a degree, plays the violin, carves all 
 sorts of things out of wood, and is really a jack-of-all- 
 trades. Don't go away, Andrei ! Heis got into a habit 
 of always going away. Come here! 
 
 [Masha and Irina take his arms and laughingly lead 
 him back] 
 
 Masha. Come, come! 
 
 Andrei. Please leave me alone. 
 
 Masha. You are funny. Alexander Ignateievitch 
 used to be called the lovelorn Major, but he never 
 minded. 
 
 Vershinin. Not the least. 
 
 Masha. I'd like to call you the lovelorn fiddler! 
 
 Irina. Or the lovelorn professor! 
 
 Olga. He's in love! Little Andrei is in love! 
 
 Irina [applauds] Bravo, bravo! Encore! Little 
 Andrei is in love. 
 
 Tchebutikin [goes up behind Andrei and puts his 
 arms about him] We were created for love only! 
 
 [Roars with laughter, then sits down holding his news- 
 paper in his hands] 
 
 Andrei. That's enough, quite enough. • . . [Wipes 
 his face] I couldn't sleep all night and now I am not 
 quite myself. I read until four o'clock, then tried to 
 sleep, but nothing happened. I thought about one thing 
 
іб THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 and another, and then dawn came and the sun crept 
 into my bedroom. This summer, while Fm here, I'd 
 like to translate a book from the English. . . . 
 
 Vershinin. Do you read English? 
 
 Andrei. Yes; father, rest his soul, educated us al- 
 most violently. It may seem trivial and foolish, but it's 
 nevertheless true, that after his death I began to fill out, 
 and I gained a good deal of weight within the year, as 
 if my body had been freed from some tremendous pres- 
 sure. Thanks to father, my sisters and I 'know French, 
 German, and English, and Irina knows Italian as well. 
 But we paid dearly for it all! 
 
 Masha. A knowledge of three languages is an un- 
 necessary luxury in this town. It isn't even a luxury 
 but a sort of superfluous thing, like a sixth finger. We 
 know a great deal too much. 
 
 Vershinin. Well, I say! [Laughs] You know a 
 great deal too mifth! I don't think there can really be 
 a town so dull and stupid as to have no room for a clever, 
 cultured person. Let us suppose even that among the 
 hundred thousand inhabitants of this backward and crude 
 town, there are only three persons like yourself. It 
 stands to reason that you won't be able to conquer that 
 dark mob around you; little by little as you grow older 
 you will be bound to give way and lose yourselves in 
 this crowd of a hundred thousand human beings; their 
 life will suck you under, but still, you won't disappear 
 without having influenced anybody; later on, others like 
 you will come, perhaps six of them, then twelve, and 
 so on, until at last your sort will be in the majority. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 17 
 
 In two or three hundred years life on this earth will be 
 gorgeously beautiful and glorious. Mankind needs such 
 a life, and if it is not ours to-day then we must look 
 forward to it, wait, think, prepare for it. We must 
 see and know more than our fathers and grandfathers 
 saw and knew. [Laughs] And you complain that you 
 know too much. 
 
 Masha [takes off her hat] I'll stay to lunch. 
 
 Irina [sighs] Really, all that should be written down. 
 
 [Andrei has gone out quietly] 
 
 Tuzenbach. You say that many years later, life on 
 this earth will be beautiful and glorious. That's true. 
 But to take part in it now, even indirectly, we must work 
 and make ready — 
 
 Vershinin [gets up] Yes. What a lot of flowers 
 you have. [Looks round] It's a beautiful apartment! 
 I envy you! All my life I moved from one quarter 
 to another, and they never had more than two chairs, 
 a sofa, and a fireplace which smoked. I've never had 
 flowers like these in my life. . . . [Rubs* his hands] 
 Well, well! 
 
 Tuzenbach. Yes, we must work. You are probably 
 thinking to yourself: The German is growing senti- 
 mental. But I assure you I'm a Russian, I can't even 
 speak German. My father belonged to the Orthodox 
 Church. . . . [Pause] 
 
 Vershinin [walks about the stage] I often wonder: 
 suppose we could begin life over again, perfectly aware 
 of our actions? Suppose we could use one life, already 
 ended, as a sort of rough draft for another? I think 
 
i8 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 that every one of us would try, more than anything else, 
 not to repeat himself; at the very least he would re- 
 arrange his manner of life, he would make sure of rooms 
 like these, with flowers and light ... I have a wife 
 and two daughters. My wife's health is delicate and 
 so on and so forth, and if I had to begin life all over 
 again I would not marry. . . . No, no! 
 
 [Enter Kuligin in a regulation tunic] 
 
 Kuligin [going up to Irind] Dear sister, allow me 
 to congratulate you on your birthday and to wish you, 
 sincerely and from the bottom of my heart, good health 
 and everything else in the world. And then let me offer 
 you this book as a present. [Gives it to her] It is the 
 history of our High School during the last fifty years, 
 written by myself. The book is worthless, and written 
 because I had nothing else to do, but read it all the 
 same. How are you, gentlemen? [To Vershinin] My 
 name is Kuligin, I am a teacher of the local High School, 
 with the rank of Assistant Councilor of Pedagogics. 
 [To Irina] You will in this book find a list of all our 
 High School graduates of the last fifty years. Feci quod 
 potuij faciant meliora potentes. [Kisses Masha] 
 
 Irina. But you gave me one of these at Easter. 
 
 Kuligin [laughs'] Impossible! You'd better give it 
 back to me in that case, or else give it to the Colonel. 
 Take it, Colonel. You may read it some day when 
 you're bored. 
 
 Vershinin. Thank you. [Prepares to go] I am so 
 glad that I have made the acquaintance of . . . 
 
 Olga. Must you go? No, not yet? 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 19 
 
 Irina. You'll stay and have lunch with us. Please 
 do. 
 
 Olga. Yes, please! 
 
 Vershinin [bows] I seem to have dropped in on 
 your birthday. Forgive me, I didn't know, and I didn't 
 offer you my congratulations. . . • 
 
 [Goes with Olga into the living-room] 
 
 Kuligin. To-day is Sunday, the day of rest, so let 
 us rest and rejoice, each in a manner compatible with 
 his age and disposition. The carpets will have to be 
 taken up for the summer and put away till winter. . . . 
 Persian powder or naphthaline. . . . The Romans were 
 healthy because they knew both how to work and how 
 to rest, they had mens sana in corpore sano. Their lives 
 ran along certain well-defined grooves. Our director 
 says: "The chief thing about each life is its routine. 
 Whoever loses his routine loses himself" — and it's just 
 the same with our daily actions. [Takes Masha by the 
 waistj laughing'] Masha loves me. My wife loves me. 
 And you ought to put the window curtains away with 
 the carpets. ... I'm awfully pleased with life to-day. 
 Masha, we have to be at the director's at four. They're 
 getting up an excursion for the pedagogues and their 
 families. 
 
 Masha. I shan't go. 
 
 Kuligin [hurt] My dear Masha, why not? 
 
 Masha. I'll tell you later . . . [angrily] All right, 
 I'll go, only please don't bother me. . . . [Steps to one 
 side] 
 
 Kuligin. And then we're to spend the evening at 
 
20 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 the director's. In spite of his ill-health that man tries, 
 above everything else, to be sociable. A splendid, illumi- 
 nating personality. A wonderful man. After yester- 
 day's committee meeting, he said to me: "I'm tired, 
 Fyodor Ilyitch, I'm tired!" [Looks at the clock, then at 
 his watch] Your clock is seven minutes fast. "Yes," 
 he said, "I'm tired." 
 
 [Violin played off stage] 
 
 Olga. Let's sit down to lunch, people! There's to 
 be a masterpiece of a pie! 
 
 Kuligin. Oh my dear, dear Olga. Yesterday I 
 worked from early morning till eleven at night, and 
 got awfully tired. To-day I'm quite happy. [Goes into 
 living-room'] My dear . . ,. 
 
 Tchebutikin [puts his paper into his pocket, and 
 combs his beard] A pie? Splendid! 
 
 Masha [severely to Tchebutikin] Only mind; you're 
 not to drink anything to-day. Do you hear? It's bad 
 for you. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Oh, that's all right. I haven't been 
 drunk for two years. [Impatiently] Motherkin, what 
 difference does it make anyway? 
 
 Masha. All the same, don't you dare drink! Don't 
 you dare! [Angrily, but so that her husband should not 
 hear] Another dull evening at the Director's, confound 
 it! 
 
 Tuzenbach. I shouldn't go if I were you. . . . 
 It's quite simple. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Don't go, dear heart! 
 
 Masha. Yes, "don't go. . . ." It's a damned un- 
 bearable life . . . [Goes into living-room] 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 21 
 
 Tchebutikin [follows her] It's not so bad. 
 
 Solyony [going into the living-room'] There, there, 
 there. . . . 
 
 Tuzenbach. Vassily Vassilievitch, that's enough! 
 That will do! 
 
 Solyony. There, there, there. . . . 
 
 Kuligin [gayly] Your health, Colonel! I'm a peda- 
 gogue and quite at home here. I'm Masha's husband. 
 . . . She's a good soul, a very good soul. 
 
 Vershinin. I'll have some of this dark vodka . . . 
 [Drinks] Your health! [To Olga] I'm very comfort- 
 able here! 
 
 [Only Irina and Tuzenbach are now left in the sit' 
 ting-room] 
 
 Irina. Masha's out of sorts to-day. She married 
 when she was eighteen, when he seemed to her the wisest 
 of men. And now it's different. He's the kindest man, 
 but not the wisest. 
 
 Olga [impatiently] Andrei, when are you coming? 
 
 Andrei [off] One minute. [Enters and goes to table] 
 
 Tuzenbach. What are you thinking of? 
 
 Irina. I don't like this Solyony of yours and I'm 
 afraid of him. He says only foolish things. 
 
 Tuzenbach. He's a queer man. I'm sorry for him, 
 though he vexes me. I think he's shy. When there are 
 just the two of us he's quite all right and very good 
 company; when other people are about he's rough and 
 irritating. Don't go in, let them sit down without us 
 in the meanwhile. Let me stay with you. What are 
 you thinking of? [Pause] You're twenty. I'm not yet 
 thirty. How many years are there left to us, with their 
 
22 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 long monotony of days, filled with my love for you. . . • 
 
 Irina. Nikolai Lvovitch, don't speak to me of love. 
 
 Tuzenbach [does not hear] Гѵе a great thirst for 
 life, struggle, and work, and this thirst has mated with 
 my love for you, Irina, and you're so beautiful, and 
 life seems so beautiful to me! What are you thinking 
 of? 
 
 Irina. You say that life is beautiful! Yes, if we 
 only believe it to be so! So far the life of us three 
 has not been beautiful; it has been stifling us . . . like 
 a wet blanket . . . Гт crying. I oughtn't. . . . [Dries 
 her tears, smiles] We must work, work. That is why 
 we are unhappy and look at life so sadly; we don't know 
 what work is. Our parents looked on work with contempt. 
 
 [Enter Natalia Ivanovna; she wears a pink dress and 
 a green sash] 
 
 Natasha. They're already at lunch. . . . I'm late. 
 . . . [Rapidly examines herself in a mirror, and 
 straightens her clothes] I think my hair's done all right. 
 . . . [Sees Irina] Dear Irina Sergeievna, I congratulate 
 you! [Kisses her tenderly and at length] You've so 
 many visitors, I'm really ashamed. . . . How do you do, 
 Baron ! 
 
 Olga [enters from living-room] Here's Natalia 
 Ivanovna. How are you, dear! [They kiss] 
 
 Natasha. Happy returns. I'm awfully embarrassed, 
 you've so many people here. 
 
 Olga. Oh come! They are all friends. [Frightened, 
 in an undertone] You're wearing a green sash! My 
 dear, you shouldn't! 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 23 
 
 Natasha. Is it a sign of anything? 
 
 Olga. No, it simply doesn't go well . . . and it 
 looks so queer. 
 
 Natasha [in a tearful voice'] Yes? But it isn't really 
 green, it's too dull for that. [Goes into living-room with 
 Olga. They have all sat down to lunch in the living- 
 room j the sitting-room is empty] 
 
 Kuligin. I wish you a nice fiance, Irina. It's high 
 time you married. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Natalia Ivanovna, I wish you the 
 same. 
 
 Kuligin. Natalia Ivanovna has a fiance already. 
 
 Mash a [raps with her fork on a plate] I'll have a 
 glass of wine. Life is all right if you don't waste it! 
 
 Kuligin. You've lost three good conduct marks. 
 
 Vershinin. This is a good cordial. What's it 
 made of? 
 
 Solyony. Cockroaches ! 
 
 Irina [offended] Phoo! How disgusting! 
 
 Olga. There is to be a roast turkey and a sweet 
 apple pie for dinner. Thank goodness I can spend all 
 day and evening at home. You'll come in the evening, 
 ladies and gentlemen. . . . 
 
 Vershinin. And please may I come in the evening? 
 
 Irina. Please do. 
 
 Natasha. They don't stand on ceremony here. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Nature created us only for love. 
 [Laughs] 
 
 Andrei [angrily] Please don't. Aren't you tired of 
 it? 
 
24 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 [Enter Fedotik and Rode with a large basket of 
 flowers] 
 
 Fedotik. They're lunching already. 
 
 Rode [loudly and thickly] Lunching? Yes, so they 
 are. . . . 
 
 Fedotik. Wait a minute! [Takes a photograph] 
 That's one. No, just a moment. . . . [Takes another] 
 That's two. Now we're ready! 
 
 [They take the basket and go into living-room, where 
 they are the center of a noisy reception] 
 
 Rode [loudly] Congratulations and best wishes! 
 Lovely weather to-day, simply perfect. I was out walk- 
 ing with the High School students all the morning. I 
 supervise their drills. 
 
 Fedotik. You may move, Irina Sergeievna! [Takes 
 a photograph] You look well to-day. [Takes a hum- 
 ming-top out of his pocket] Here's a humming-top, by 
 the way. It's got a lovely note! 
 
 Irina. How very nice! 
 
 Masha. "A green oak stands by the sea, 
 
 A chain of gold around it . . . 
 A chain of gold around it. . . ." 
 [Tearfully] What am I saying that for? Those words 
 have been running in my head all day. . . . 
 
 Kuligin. There are thirteen at table! 
 
 Rode [aloud] Surely you don't believe in that super- 
 stition ? [Laughter] 
 
 Kuligin. If there are thirteen at table then it means 
 there are lovers present. It isn't you, Ivan Romano- 
 vitch, confound it! . . . [Laughter] 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 25 
 
 Tchebutikin. Fm a hardened sinner, but I really 
 don't see why Natalia Ivanovna should blush. . . . 
 
 [Loud laughter; Natasha runs out in the living-room; 
 followed by Andrei] 
 
 Andrei. Don't pay any attention to them! Wait 
 „ . . stop, please. . . . 
 
 Natasha. I'm embarrassed ... I don't know 
 what's the matter with me and they're all laughing at 
 me. It wasn't nice of me to leave the table like that, 
 but I can't help myself ... I can't. [Covers her face 
 with her hands] 
 
 Andrei. My dear, I beg you. I implore you not to 
 excite yourself. I assure you they're only joking, they're 
 kind people. My dear, dear child, they're all kind and 
 sincere people, and they like both you and me. Gome 
 here to the window, they can't see us here. . . . [Looks 
 around] 
 
 Natasha, I'm so unaccustomed to meeting people! 
 
 Andrei. Oh, your youth, your splendid, beautiful 
 youth! Darling, don't be so excited! Trust me, please 
 trust me. . . . I'm so happy, my soul is full of love, of 
 ecstasy. They can't see us! They can't! Why did I 
 fall in love with you — when I did ? — Oh, I can't un- 
 derstand! My dear! little sweetheart, be my wife! I 
 love you, love you . . . [They kiss] as I never loved 
 any one. . . . 
 
 [Two officers come in and, seeing the lovers kiss, stop 
 in astonishment] 
 
 curtain 
 
ACT TWO 
 
 As before. It is 8 p.m. Somebody is heard playing a 
 concertina outside in the street. There is no fire. Natalia 
 Ivanovna enters dressed in a wrapper, carrying a candle; 
 she stops by the door which leads into Andrei's room. 
 
 Natasha. What are you doing, Andrei? Are you 
 reading? It's nothing, only I. . . . [She opens another 
 door , and looks in, then closes it] Isn't there any 
 fire. . . . 
 
 Andrei [enters with book in hand] What are you 
 doing, Natasha? 
 
 Natasha. I was looking to see if there wasn't a 
 fire. It's Shrovetide, and the servants are simply beside 
 themselves; I must take care that something doesn't hap- 
 pen. When I came through the living-room yesterday 
 at midnight, there was a candle burning. I couldn't find 
 out who had lighted it. [Puts down her candle] What's 
 the time? 
 
 Andrei [looks at his watch] A quarter past eight. 
 
 Natasha. And Olga and Irina aren't in yet. The 
 poor things are still at work. Olga at the teacher's 
 council, Irina at the telegraph office . . . [Sighs] I said 
 to your sister this morning, "Irina, darling, you must 
 take care of yourself." But she pays no attention. Did 
 you say it was a quarter past eight? I am afraid little 
 
 26 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 27 
 
 Bobby is quite ill. Why is he so cold ? He was feverish 
 yesterday, but to-day he is quite cold ... I am so 
 frightened ! 
 
 Andrei. It's all right, Natasha. The boy is well, 
 
 Natasha. Still, Г think we should put him on a 
 diet. I am so afraid. And the performers were to be 
 here after nine; they had better not come, Andrei. 
 
 Andrei. I don't know. After all, they were asked. 
 
 Natasha. This morning, when the little boy woke 
 up and saw me he suddenly smiled ; that means he knew 
 me. "Good morning, Bobby!" I said, "good morning, 
 darling." And he laughed. Children understand, they 
 understand very well. So I'll tell them, Andrei dear, 
 not to receive the performers. 
 
 Andrei [hesitatingly'] But what about my sisters? 
 This is their flat. 
 
 Natasha. They'll do as I wish. They are so kind. 
 ... [Going] I ordered sour milk for supper. The doc- 
 tor says you must eat sour milk and nothing else, or you 
 won't get thin. [Stops] Bobby is so cold. I'm afraid 
 his room is too cold for him. It would be nice to put 
 him into another room till the warm weather comes. 
 Irina's room, for instance, is just right for the child: 
 it's dry and has the sun all day. I must tell her, she 
 can share Olga's room. ... It isn't as if she was at 
 home in the daytime, she only sleeps here. . . . [A 
 pause] Andrei, darling, why are you so silent? 
 
 Andrei. I was just thinking. . . . There is really 
 nothing to say. . . . 
 
 Natasha. Yes . . . there was something I wanted 
 
28 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 to tell you . . . Oh, yes. Ferapont has come from the 
 Council offices, he wants to see you. 
 
 Andrei [yawns] Call him in! 
 
 [Natasha goes out; Andrei reads his book, stooping 
 over the candle which she has left behind. Ferapont 
 enters; he wears a tattered old coat with the collar 
 turned up. His ears are muffled] 
 
 Andrei. Good morning, grandfather. What have 
 you to say? 
 
 Ferapont. The Chairman sends a book and some 
 documents or other. Here . . . [Hands him a book and 
 a packet] 
 
 Andrei. Thank you. It's all right. Why couldn't 
 you come earlier? It's past eight now. 
 
 Ferapont. What ? 
 
 Andrei [louder] I say you've come late, it's past eight. 
 
 Ferapont. Yes, yes. I came when it was still light, 
 but they wouldn't let me in. They said you were busy. 
 Well, what was I to do? If you're busy, you're busy, 
 and I'm in no hurry. [He thinks that Andrei is asking 
 him something] What? 
 
 Andrei. Nothing. [Looks through the book] To- 
 morrow is Friday. I'm not supposed to go to work, but 
 I'll come — all the same . . . and do some work. It's 
 dull at home. [Pause] Oh, my dear old man, how 
 strangely life changes, and how it deceives one! To-day, 
 out of sheer boredom, I took up this book — old uni- 
 versity lectures, and I couldn't help laughing. My God, 
 I'm secretary of the local district council, the council 
 which has Protopopoff for its chairman, yes, I'm the 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 29 
 
 secretary, and the summit of my ambition is — to become 
 a member of the council ! I to be a member of the local 
 district council, I, who dream every night that I'm a 
 professor of Moscow University, a famous scholar of 
 whom all Russia is proud! 
 
 Ferapont. I can't tell . . . Fm hard of hear- 
 ing. ... 
 
 Andrei. If you weren't, I don't suppose I should 
 talk to you. I've got to talk to somebody, and my wife 
 doesn't understand me, and I'm a bit afraid of my sisters 
 ■ — I don't know why unless it is that they might make 
 fun of me and make me feel ashamed ... I don't drink, 
 I don't like public houses, but old fellow, how I should 
 like to be sitting just now in Tyestoff's place in Moscow, 
 or at the Great Moscow! 
 
 Ferapont. Moscow? That's where a contractor 
 told me once that some merchants or other ate pan- 
 cakes; one ate forty and he died, he was saying. Either 
 forty or fifty, I forget which. 
 
 Andrei. In Moscow you can sit in an enormous 
 restaurant where you don't know anybody and where 
 nobody knows you, and you don't feel that you're a 
 stranger for all that. And here you know everybody and 
 everybody knows you, and you're a stranger . . . and a 
 lonely stranger. 
 
 Ferapont. What? And the same contractor said 
 — perhaps he was lying — that there was a cable 
 stretching right across Moscow. 
 
 Andrei. What for? 
 
 Ferapont. I can't tell. The contractor said so. 
 
ЗО THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Andrei. Rubbish. [He reads] Were you ever in 
 Moscow? 
 
 Ferapont [after a pause] No. God did not lead me 
 there. [Pause] Shall I leave? 
 
 Andrei. You may. Good-by. [Ferapont goes] 
 Good-by. [Reads] You can come to-morrow and fetch 
 these documents . . . Run along . . . [Pause] He's 
 gone. [A ring] Yes, yes . . . 
 
 [Stretches- himself and slowly goes into his own room. 
 Behind the scene the nurse is singing a lullaby to the 
 child. Masha and Vershinin come in. While they talk, 
 a maid lights candles and a lamp] 
 
 Masha. I don't know. [Pause] I don't know. Of 
 course, habit counts for a great deal. After father's 
 death, for instance, it took us a long time to get used to 
 the absence of orderlies. But, apart from habit, it seems 
 to me in all fairness that, however it may be in other 
 towns, the best and most thoroughly educated people 
 are army men. 
 
 Vershinin. Fm thirsty. I should like some tea. 
 
 Masha [glancing at her watch] They'll bring it soon. 
 I was married when I was eighteen, and I was afraid 
 of my husband because he was a teacher and Fd only 
 just left school. Then he seemed to me frightfully wise 
 and learned and important. And now, unfortunately, 
 that has changed. 
 
 Vershinin. Yes . . . yes. 
 
 Masha. I don't speak of my husband, Fve grown 
 used to him, but civilians in general are so often coarse, 
 impolite, uneducated. Their rudeness offends me, it angers 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 31 
 
 me. I suffer when I see that a man isn't quite suffi- 
 ciently refined, or delicate, or polite. I simply suffer 
 agonies when I happen to be among schoolmasters, my 
 husband's colleagues. 
 
 Vershinin. Yes . . . But it seems to me that 
 civilians and army men are equally interesting, in this 
 town, at any rate. It's all the same! If you listen to 
 a member of the local intelligentsia, whether civilian or 
 military, he will tell you that he's sick of his wife, sick 
 of his house, sick of his estate, sick of his horses. . . . 
 We Russians are extremely gifted in the direction of 
 thinking on an exalted plane, but, tell me, why do we 
 aim so low in real life? Why? 
 
 Masha. Why? 
 
 Vershinin. Why is a Russian sick of his children, 
 sick of his wife? And why are his wife and children 
 sick of him? 
 
 Masha. You're a little downhearted to-day. 
 
 Vershinin. Perhaps I am. I haven't had any din- 
 ner, I've had nothing to eat since morning. My daugh- 
 ter is a little under the weather and when my girls are 
 ill, I get very anxious and my conscience tortures me 
 because they have such a mother. Oh, if you had seen 
 her to-day! What an insignificant creature! We began 
 quarreling at seven in the morning and at nine I slammed 
 the door and went out. [Pause] I never speak of it, it's 
 strange that I should complain to you alone. [Kisses 
 her hand] Don't be angry with me. I haven't anybody 
 but you, nobody at all. . . . [Pause] 
 
 Masha. What a noise in the oven. Just before 
 
32 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 father's death there was a noise in the pipe, just like 
 that. 
 
 Vershinin. Are you superstitious? 
 
 Masha. Yes. 
 
 Vershinin. That's strange. [Kisses her hand] You 
 are a splendid, wonderful woman. Splendid, wonderful! 
 It is dark here, but I can see the sparkle in your eyes! 
 
 Masha [sits on another chair] There is better light 
 here. 
 
 Vershinin. I love you, love you, love you. . . . 
 I love your eyes, your gestures, I dream of them. . . . 
 Splendid, wonderful woman! 
 
 Masha [laughing gently] When you talk to me like 
 that, I laugh; I don't know why, for I'm afraid. Don't 
 repeat it, ріеаэе. . . . [In an undertone] No, go on, 
 it's all the same to me. . . . [Covers her face with her 
 hands] Somebody's coming, let's talk about something 
 else. . . . 
 
 [Irina and Tuzenbach come in through the living- 
 room] 
 
 Tuzenbach. My surname is really triple. I am 
 called Baron Tuzenbach-Krone-Altschauer, but I am 
 Russian and Orthodox, just as you are. There is very 
 little German left in me, unless perhaps it is the patience 
 and the obstinacy with which I bore you. I see you home 
 every night. 
 
 Irina. I am so tired! 
 
 Tuzenbach. And I'll come to the telegraph office 
 to see you home every day for ten or twenty years, until 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 33 
 
 you drive me away. [He sees Masha and Vershinin; 
 joyfully] Is that you? How do you do? 
 
 Irina. Well, I am home at last. [To Masha] A 
 lady came to telegraph to her brother in Saratoff that 
 her son died to-day, and she couldn't remember the ad- 
 dress. So she sent the telegram without an address, just 
 to Saratoff. She was crying. And for some reason or 
 other I was rude to her. "Гѵе no time, ,, I said. It was 
 so stupid. Are the performers coming to-night? 
 
 Masha. Yes. 
 
 Irina [sitting down in an armchair] I need a rest. 
 I am tired. 
 
 Tuzenbach [smiling] When you come home from 
 your work you seem so young, and so pitiful. . . . 
 [Pause] 
 
 Irina. I am tired. No, I don't like the telegraph 
 office, I don't like it. 
 
 Masha. YouVe grown thinner. . . . [Whistles a 
 little] And you look younger, and your face has become 
 like a boy's. 
 
 Tuzenbach. That's the way she does her hair. 
 
 Irina. I must find another position, this one is not 
 to my liking. The very thing I wanted and hoped to 
 get, is lacking. Labor without poetry, without ideas 
 . . . [A knock on the floor] The doctor is knocking. 
 [To Tuzenbach] Will you knock, dear? I can't . . . 
 Гт tired. . . . [Tuzenbach knocks] He'll come in a 
 minute. Something ought to be done. Yesterday the 
 doctor and Andrei played cards at the club and lost 
 money. Andrei seems to have lost 200 rubles. 
 
34 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Mash A [with indifference] What can we do now? 
 
 Irina. He lost money a fortnight ago, he lost money 
 in December. Perhaps if he lost everything we should 
 go away from this town. Oh, my God, I dream of 
 Moscow every night. I'm just like a lunatic. [Laughs] 
 We go there. in June, and before June there's still . . . 
 February, March, April, May . . . nearly half a year! 
 
 Masha. Only Natasha mustn't learn of these losses. 
 
 Irina. I suppose it would be all the same to her. 
 
 [Tchebutikin, who has only just got out of bed — he 
 was resting after dinner — comes into the living-room 
 and combs his beard. He then sits at the -table and takes 
 a newspaper from his pocket] 
 
 Masha. Here he is. . . . Has he paid his rent? 
 
 Irina [laughs'] No. He's been here eight months and 
 hasn't paid a kopeck. Seems to have forgotten. 
 
 Masha [laughs] What dignity in his pose! [They 
 all laugh] 
 
 Irina. Why are you so silent, Alexander Ignateie- 
 vitch ? 
 
 Vershinin. I don't know. I must have some tea. 
 Half my life for a glass of tea : I haven't had anything 
 since morning. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Irina Sergeievna! 
 
 Irina. What is it? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Please come here, Venez icu [Irina 
 goes and sits at the table] I can't do without you. 
 [Irina begins to play solitaire] 
 
 Vershinin. Well, if we can't have tea, let's philoso- 
 phize, at any rate. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 35 
 
 Tuzenbach. Yes, let's. About what? 
 
 Vershinin. About what? Let us meditate . . . 
 about life as it will be after our time; for example, in 
 two or three hundred years. 
 
 Tuzenbach. Well? After our time people will fly 
 about in balloons, the cut of one's coat will change, per- 
 haps they'll discover a sixth sense and develop it, but life 
 will remain the same, laborious, mysterious, and happy. 
 And in a thousand years'* time, people will still be sigh- 
 ing: "Life is hard!" — and at the same time they'll be 
 just as afraid of death, and unwilling to meet it, as we 
 are. 
 
 Vershinin [thoughtfully] How can I put it? It 
 seems to me that everything on earth must change, little 
 by little, and is already changing under our very eyes. 
 After two or three hundred years, after a thousand — - the 
 actual time doesn't matter — a new and happy age will 
 begin. We, of course, shall not take part in it, but we 
 live and work and even suffer to-day that it should come. 
 We create it — and in that one object is our destiny, and, 
 if you like, our happiness. 
 
 [Masha laughs softly.] 
 
 Tuzenbach. What is it? 
 
 Masha. I don't know. I've been laughing all day, 
 ever since morning. 
 
 Vershinin. I finished my education at the same 
 point as you; I have had no university training; I read 
 a lot, but I cannot choose my books and perhaps what I 
 read is not at all what I should, but the longer I live, 
 the more I want to know. My hair is turning white, I 
 
3$ THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 am nearly an old man now, but I know so little, oh, so 
 little ! But I think I know the things that matter most, 
 and that are most real. I know them well. And I wish I 
 could make you understand that there is no happiness for 
 us, that there should not and cannot be. . . . We must 
 only work and work, and happiness is only for our distant 
 posterity. [Pause] If not for me, then for the descendants 
 of my descendants. 
 
 [Fedotik and Rode come into the living-room ; they sit 
 and sing softly, strumming on guitars] 
 
 Tuzenbach. According to you, one should not even 
 think about happiness! But suppose I am happy? 
 
 Vershinin. No. 
 
 Tuzenbach [moves his hands and laughs] We do not 
 seem to understand each other. How can I convince you ? 
 [Masha laughs quietly, Tuzenbach continues, pointing at 
 her] Yes, laugh! [To Vershinin] Not only after two or 
 three centuries, but in a million years, life will still be 
 as it was; life does not change, it remains forever, fol- 
 lowing its own laws which do not concern us, or which, 
 at any rate, you will never be able to fathom. Migrant 
 birds, cranes for example, fly and fly, and whatever 
 thoughts, high or low, enter their heads, they will still 
 fly and not know why or where. They fly and will con- 
 tinue to fly, whatever philosophers should be born among 
 them; they may philosophize as much as they like, only 
 they will fly. . . . 
 
 Masha. Still is there a meaning? 
 
 Tuzenbach. A meaning. . . . Imagine that snow 
 is falling! Any special meaning in that? [Pause] 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 37 
 
 Masha. It seems to me that a man must have faith, 
 or must search for a faith, or his life will be empty, 
 empty . . . To live and not to know why the cranes fly, 
 why babies are born, why there are stars in the sky . . • 
 Either you must know why you live, or everything is 
 trivial, not worth a straw. [A pause] 
 
 Vershinin. Still, I am sorry that my youth has gone. 
 
 Masha. Gogol says: life in this world is a dull mat- 
 ter, gentlemen ! 
 
 Tuzenbach. And I say it's difficult to argue with 
 you, gentlemen ! Confound it all ! 
 
 Tchebutikin [reading] Balzac was married at Berd- 
 itcheff. [Irina is singing softly] That's worth making a 
 note of. [He makes a note] Balzac was married at Berd- 
 itcheff. [Goes on reading] 
 
 Irina [laying out cards, thoughtfully] Balzac was 
 married at Berditcheff. 
 
 Tuzenbach. The die is cast. Гѵе handed in my 
 resignation, Maria Sergeievna. 
 
 Masha. So I heard. I don't see what good that does; 
 I don't like civilians. 
 
 Tuzenbach. Never mind . . . [Gets up] Fm not 
 handsome; what use am I as a soldier? Well, it makes 
 no difference ... I shall work. If only just once in 
 my life I could work so that I could come home in the 
 evening, fall exhausted on my bed, and go to sleep at 
 once. [Going into the living-room] Workmen, I suppose, 
 do sleep soundly! 
 
 Fedotik [to Irina] I bought some colored pencils iot 
 
38 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 you at Pizhikoff's in the Moscow Road, just now. And 
 here is a little knife. 
 
 Irina. You have got into the habit of behaving to me 
 as if I am a little girl, but I am grown up. [Takes the 
 pencils and the knife, then, with joy] How lovely! 
 
 Fedotik. And I bought myself a knife . . . look at 
 it . . . one blade, another, a third, an ear-scoop, scissors* 
 nail-cleaners. . . . 
 
 Rode [loudly'] Doctor, how old are you? 
 
 Tchebutikin. I? Thirty-two. [Laughter] 
 
 Fedotik. I'll show you another kind of solitaire. 
 [Lays out cards] 
 
 [A samovar is brought in; Anfisa attends to it; a little 
 later Natasha enters and helps by the table; Solyony ar- 
 rives and, after greetings, sits at the table] 
 
 Vershinin. What a wind ! 
 
 Masha. Yes. Гт tired of winter. Гѵе already for- 
 gotten what summer's like. 
 
 Irina. The solitaire is coming out, I see. We shall 
 go to Moscow. 
 
 Fedotik. No, it won't come out. Look, the eight was 
 on the two of spades. [Laughs] That means you won't 
 go to Moscow. 
 
 Tchebutikin [reading paper] Tsitsikar. Smallpox is 
 raging here. 
 
 Anfisa [coming up to Masha] Masha, have some tea, 
 little mother. [To Vershinin] Please have some, sir . . . 
 excuse me, but I've forgotten your name. . . . 
 
 Masha. Bring some here, nurse. I shan't go over 
 there. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 39 
 
 Irina. Nurse! 
 
 Anfisa. Coming, coming! 
 
 Natasha [to Solyony] Children at the breast under- 
 stand perfectly. I said, "Good morning, Bobby; good 
 morning, dear!" and he looked at me in quite an unusual 
 way. You think it's only the mother in me that is speak- 
 ing; I assure you that isn't so! He's a wonderful child. 
 
 Solyony. If he was my child I'd roast him on a 
 frying-pan and eat him. [Takes his glass into the draw- 
 ing-room and sits in a corner] 
 
 Natasha [covers her face in her hands] Vulgar, ill- 
 bred man! 
 
 Masha. Lucky the one who doesn't notice whether 
 it's winter now, or summer. I think that if I were in 
 Moscow, I shouldn't mind the weather. 
 
 Vershinin. A few days ago I was reading the prison 
 diary of a French minister. He had been sentenced on 
 account of the Panama scandal. With what joy, what 
 delight, he speaks of the birds which he saw through the 
 prison windows, which he had never noticed while he was 
 a minister. Now, of course, that he is at liberty, he 
 notices birds no more than he did before. When you 
 live in Moscow, you'll not notice it, in just the same way. 
 There can be no happiness for us, it exists only in our 
 anticipations. 
 
 Tuzenbach [takes cardboard box front the table] 
 Where is the candy ? 
 
 Irina. Solyony has eaten it. 
 
 Tuzenbach. All of it? 
 
 Anfisa [serving tea] There's a letter for you. 
 
40 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Vershinin. For me? [Takes the letter] From my 
 daughter. [Reads'] Yes, of course ... I will go quietly. 
 Excuse me, Maria Sergeievna. I shan't have any tea. 
 [Stands up , excited] That eternal story. . . . 
 
 Mash a. What is it? Is it a secret? 
 
 Vershinin [quietly] My wife has poisoned herself 
 again. I must go. I'll leave quietly. It's all awfully 
 unpleasant. [Kisses Mashcfs hand] My dear, splendid, 
 good woman . . . I'll go this way, quietly. [Exit] 
 
 Anfisa. Where has he gone? And I'd served tea . . . 
 What a man ! 
 
 Masha [angrily] Be quiet! You never give one a 
 moment's peace . . . [Goes to the table with her cap] 
 I'm tired of you, old woman ! 
 
 Anfisa. My dear! Why are you cross? 
 
 Andrei's Voice. Anfisa! 
 
 Anfisa [mocking] Anfisa! He sits thereand • . ♦ 
 [Exit] 
 
 Masha [in the living-room, by the table angrily] Let 
 me sit down ! [Disturbs the cards on the table] Here you 
 are, spreading your cards out. Have some tea! 
 
 Irina. You are cross, Masha. 
 
 Masha. If I am cross, then don't talk to me. Don't 
 touch me ! 
 
 Tchebutikin. Don't touch her, don't touch her . . . 
 
 Masha. You're sixty, but you're like a boy, always up 
 to some beastly nonsense. 
 
 Natasha [sighs] Dear Masha, why use such lan- 
 guage? With your beautiful face and body, you would 
 be simply fascinating in good society, I tell you so 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 41 
 
 frankly, if it wasn't for your language. Je vous prie, 
 pardonnez-moi, Marie, mats vous avez des manieres un 
 feu grossieres. 
 
 Tuzenbach {restraining his laughter] Let me have 
 „ . . Let me have . . . there's some brandy, I think. 
 
 Natasha. // parfait, que топ Bobick deja ne dort 
 pas, he has awakened. He isn't well to-day. I'll go to 
 him, excuse me. . . . [Exit] 
 
 Irina. Where has Alexander Ignateievitch gone? 
 
 Masha. Home. Something extraordinary happened 
 to his wife again. 
 
 Tuzenbach [goes to Solyony with a brandy-flask in 
 his hands'] You go on sitting by yourself, thinking of 
 something — goodness knows what. Come and let's make 
 peace. Let's have some brandy. [They drink] I expect 
 I'll have to play the piano all night, some rubbish most 
 likely . • . well, so be it! 
 
 Solyony. Why make peace? I haven't quarreled 
 with you. 
 
 Tuzenbach. You always make me feel as if some- 
 thing had taken place between us. You've a strange 
 character, you must admit. 
 
 Solyony [declaims] "I am strange, but who is not? 
 Don't be angry, Aleko!" 
 
 Tuzenbach. And what has Aleko to do with it? 
 [Pause] 
 
 Solyony. When I'm with one other man I behave 
 just like everybody else, but in company I'm dull and shy 
 and • . . talk all manner of rubbish. But I'm more 
 
42 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 honest and more honorable than very, very many people. 
 And I can prove it. 
 
 Tuzenbach. I am often angry with you, you always 
 fasten on to me in company, but I like you all the same. 
 Гт going to drink my fill to-night, whatever happens. 
 Drink now! 
 
 Solyony. Let's drink. [They drink] I never had any- 
 thing against you, Baron. But my character is like Ler- 
 montofFs. [In a low voice] I even rather resemble Ler- 
 montoff, they say. . . . 
 
 [Takes a scent-bottle from his pocket, arid scents his 
 hands] 
 
 Tuzenbach. Гѵе sent in my resignation. Enough 
 said ! Гѵе been thinking about it for five years, and at 
 last I made up my mind. I shall work. 
 
 Solyony [declaims] "Do not be angry, Aleko ... 
 forget, forget, thy dreams of yore . . . " 
 
 [While he is speaking Andrei enters quietly with a 
 book and sits near the candle] 
 
 Tuzenbach. I shall work. 
 
 Tchebutikin [going with Irina into the living-room] 
 And then the food was also real Caucasian onion soup, 
 and for a roast, some chehartma. 
 
 Solyony. Cheremsha isn't meat at all, but a plant 
 something like an onion. 
 
 Tchebutikin. No, my angel. Chehartma isn't onion, 
 but roast mutton. 
 
 Solyony. And I tell you, cheremsha — is a sort of 
 onion. 
 
 Tchebutikin. ' And I tell you chehartma — is mutton. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 43 
 
 Solyony. And I tell you cheremsha — is a sort of 
 onion. 
 
 Tchebutikin. What's the use of arguing! YouVe 
 never been in the Caucasus, and never ate any che- 
 hartma. 
 
 Solyony. I never ate it, because I hate it. It smells 
 like garlic. 
 
 Andrei [imploring] Please, please! I beg you! 
 
 Tuzenbach. When are the performers coming? 
 
 Irina. They promised to be here around nine; that 
 is, quite soon. 
 
 Tuzenbach [embraces Andrei] "Oh my house, my 
 house, my new built-house." 
 
 Andrei [dances and sings] "Newly-built of maple- 
 wood." 
 
 Tchebutikin [dances] "Its walls are like a sieve !" 
 [Laughter] 
 
 Tuzenbach [kisses Andrei] Hang it all, let's drink, 
 Andrei, old boy, let's drink with you. And I'll go with 
 you, Andrei, to the University of Moscow. 
 
 Solyony. Which one? There are two universities in 
 Moscow. 
 
 Andrei. There's only one university in Moscow. 
 
 Solyony. Two, I tell you. 
 
 Andrei. I don't care if there are three. So much the 
 better. 
 
 Solyony. There are two universities in Moscow! 
 [There are murmurs and "hushes"] There are two uni- 
 versities in Moscow, the old one and the new one. And 
 if you don't like to listen, if my words annoy you, then I 
 
44 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 need not speak. I can even go into another room . . . 
 [Exit.] 
 
 Tuzenbach. Bravo, bravo! [Laughs] Come on, 
 now, I'm going to play. Funny man, Solyony . . . 
 [Goes to the piano and plays a waltz.] 
 
 Mash a [dancing solo] The Baron's drunk, the Baron's 
 drunk, the Baron's drunk! 
 
 [Natasha comes in] 
 
 Natasha [to Tchebutikin] Ivan Romanovitch! [Says 
 something in a whisper to Tchebutikin, then goes out 
 quietly: Tchebutikin touches Tuzenbach on the shoulder 
 and whispers something to him] 
 
 Irina. What is it? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Time for us to go. Good-bye. 
 
 Tuzenbach. Good-night. It's time we went. 
 
 Irina. But, really, the performers! 
 
 Andrei [in confusion] There won't be any perform- 
 ers. You see, dear, Natasha says that Bobby isn't quite 
 well, and so ... In a word, I don't care, and it's 
 absolutely all the same to me. 
 
 Irina [shrugging her shoulders] Bobby ill! 
 
 Masha. What is she thinking of ! Well, if they are 
 sent home, I suppose they must go. [To Irina] Bobby's 
 all right, it's she herself . . . Here! [Taps her forehead] 
 Little bourgeoise! 
 
 [Andrei goes to his room through the right-hand door, 
 Tchebutikin follows him. In the dining-room they are 
 saying good-bye] 
 
 Fepotik. What a shame! I was expecting to spend 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 45 
 
 the evening here, but of course, if the little baby is ill . . . 
 Г11 bring him some toys to-morrow. 
 
 Rode [loudly] I slept late after dinner to-day because 
 I thought I was going to dance all night. It's only nine 
 o'clock now ! 
 
 Masha. Let's go into the street, we can talk there. 
 Then we can settle things. 
 
 [Good-bye and good nights are heard. Tuzenbach's 
 merry laughter is heard. All go out. Anfisa and the 
 maid clear the table, and put out the lights. The nurse 
 sings. Andrei, wearing an overcoat and a hat, and 
 Tchebutikin enter silently] 
 
 Tchebutikin. I never managed to get married be- 
 cause my life passed me by like a sheet of lightning, and 
 because I was madly in love with your mother, who was 
 married. 
 
 Andrei. One shouldn't marry. One shouldn't, be- 
 cause it's a bore. 
 
 Tchebutikin. So there I am, in my loneliness. Say 
 what you will, loneliness is a terrible thing, old fel- 
 low . . . Though really ... of course, it doesn't matter 
 in the least ! 
 
 Andrei. Let's be quicker. 
 
 Tchebutikin. What are you in such a hurry for? 
 We shall be in time. 
 
 Andrei. I'm afraid my wife may stop me. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Ah ! 
 
 Andrei. I shan't play to-night, I shall only sit and 
 look on. I don't feel very well . . . What am I to do 
 for my asthma, Ivan Romanovitch? 
 
ф THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Tchebutikin. Don't ask me! I don't remember, old 
 fellow, I don't know. 
 
 Andrei. Let's go through the kitchen. [They go out. 
 A bell rings twice; voices and laughter are heard] 
 
 Irina [enters] What's that? 
 
 Anfisa [whispers] The musicians! [Bell] 
 
 Irina. Tell them there's nobody at home, nurse. They 
 must excuse us. 
 
 [Anfisa goes out. Irina walks about the room deep in 
 thought; she is excited. Solyony enters] 
 
 Solyony [in surprise] There's nobody here . . . 
 Where are they all? 
 
 Irina. They've gone home. 
 
 Solyony. How strange. Are you alone here ? 
 
 Irina. Yes, alone. [A pause] Good-bye. 
 
 Solyony. Just now I behaved tactlessly, thoughtlessly. 
 But you are not like all the others, you are noble and 
 pure, you see the truth . . . You alone can understand 
 me. I love you, deeply, beyond measure, I love you. 
 
 Irina. Good-bye! Go away. 
 
 Solyony. I cannot live without you. [Follows her'] 
 Oh, my happiness! [Through his tears] Oh, joy! Won- 
 derful, marvelous, glorious eyes, such as I have never 
 seen in any other woman . . . 
 
 Irina [coldly] Stop it, Vassily Vassilievitch ! 
 
 Solyony. This is the first time I spoke to you of love, 
 and it is as if I am no longer on earth, but on another 
 planet. [Wipes his forehead] Well, never mind. I can't 
 make you love me by force, of course . . . but I don't 
 intend to have any more-favored rivals . . . No ... I 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 47 
 
 swear to you by all the saints, I shall kill my rival . 
 Oh, beautiful one ! 
 
 [Natasha enters with a candle; she looks in through 
 one door, then through another, and goes past the door 
 leading to her husband's room] 
 
 Natasha. Here's Andrei. Let him go on reading. 
 Excuse me, Vassily Vassilievitch, I did not know you were 
 here ; I am in negligee. 
 
 Solyony. It's all the same to me. Good-bye! [Exit] 
 
 Natasha. You're so tired, my poor dear girl ! [Kisses 
 Irina] If only you went to bed earlier. 
 
 Irina. Is Bobby asleep? 
 
 Natasha. Yes, but restlessly. By the way, dear, I 
 wanted to tell you, but either you weren't at home, or 
 I was busy ... I think Bobby's present nursery is cold 
 and damp. And your room would be so nice for the 
 child. My dear, darling girl, do share Olga's room for 
 a while! 
 
 Irina [not understanding] Whose? 
 
 [The bells of a troika are heard as it drives up to the 
 house] 
 
 Natasha. You and Olga can share a room, for the 
 time being, and Bobby can have yours. He's such a darl- 
 ing; to-day I said to him, "Bobby, you're mine! Mine!" 
 And he looked at me with his dear little eyes. [A bell 
 rings] It must be Olga. How late she is! [The maid 
 enters and whispers to Natasha] Protopopoff? What a 
 queer man to do such a thing. Protopopoff's come and 
 wants me to go for a drive with him in his troika. 
 [Laughs] How funny these men are . . . [A bell rings] 
 
48 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Somebody has come. Suppose I go and have half an hours 
 drive . . . [To the maid] Say I shan't be long. [Bell 
 rings'] Somebody's ringing, it must be Olga. 
 
 [Exit. The maid runs out; Irina sits deep in thought; 
 Kuligin and Olga enter, followed by Vershinin] 
 
 Kuligin. Well, there you are. And you said there 
 was going to be a party. 
 
 Vershinin. It's queer; I went away not long ago, 
 half an hour back, and the musicians were expected. 
 
 Irina. They've all gone. 
 
 Kuligin. Has Masha gone, too? Where has she gone? 
 And what's Protopopoff waiting for downstairs in his 
 troika? Whom is he waiting for? 
 
 Irina. Don't ask questions . . . I'm tired. 
 
 Kuligin. Oh, you're all so touchy! 
 
 Olga. My committee meeting is only just over. I'm 
 tired out. Our school principal is ill, so I had to take 
 her place. My head, my head is aching . . . [Sits] 
 Andrei lost 200 rubles at cards yesterday . . • the whole 
 town is talking of it . . . 
 
 Kuligin. Yes, my meeting tired me, too. [Sits] 
 
 Vershinin. My wife took it into her head to frighten 
 me just now by nearly poisoning herself. It's all right 
 now, and I'm glad — I can rest now . . . But perhaps 
 we should go away? Well, my best wishes, Fyodor 
 Ilyitch, let's go somewhere together! I can't, I absolutely 
 can't stay home . . . Come on ! 
 
 Kuligin. I'm tired. I won't go. [Gets up] I'm 
 tired. Has my wife gone home? 
 
 Irina. I suppose so. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 49 
 
 Kuligin [kisses Irina' s hand] Good-bye, Гт going to 
 rest all day to-morrow and the day after. Best wishes? 
 [Going] I should like some tea. I was looking forward 
 to spending the whole evening in pleasant company and — 
 0, fallacem hominum spent! . . .Accusative case after 
 an interjection ... 
 
 Vershinin. Then I'll go somewhere by myself. 
 
 [Exit with Kuligin, whistling] 
 
 Olga. I've such a headache . . . Andrei has been los- 
 ing money . . . The whole town is talking . . .Ill 
 go and lie down. [Going] Гт free to-morrow . . . Oh, 
 my God, what a relief ! Гт free to-morrow, Гт free the 
 day after . . . Oh my head, my head . . . [Exit] 
 
 Irina [alone] They've all gone. Nobody's left. 
 
 [A concertina is being played in the street. The nurse 
 sings] 
 
 Natasha [in fur coat, and cap, steps across the living- 
 room, followed by the maid] I'll be back in half an hour. 
 I'm only going for a little drive. [Exit] 
 
 Irina [alone in her misery] To Moscow! Moscow! 
 Moscow! 
 
 CURTAIN. 
 
ACT THREE. 
 
 The room shared by Olga and Irina. Beds, screened 
 off , back, right and left. It is a little after two in the 
 morning. Back stage a fire-alarm is ringing; it has been 
 going for some time. Nobody in the house has gone to 
 bed yet. Masha is lying on a sofa dressed, as usual, in 
 black. Enter Olga and Anfisa. 
 
 Anfisa. They are now sitting underneath the stairs. 
 I said to them, "Won't you come up," I said, "you can't 
 go on like this," and they simply cried, "We don't know 
 where father is." They said, "He may be burnt up by 
 now." What an idea! And in the yard there are some 
 people . . . also undressed. 
 
 Olga [takes a dress out of the closet] Take this gray 
 dress . . . and this . . . and the blouse as well . . . 
 Take the skirt, too, nurse . . . My God ! How awful 
 it is! The whole of the Kirsanovsky district seems to 
 have burned down. Take this . . . and this . . . 
 [Throws clothes into her hands] The poor Vershinins are 
 so frightened . . . Their house was nearly burnt. They 
 ought to come here for the night . . . They shouldn't 
 be allowed to go home . . . Poor Fedotik has lost every- 
 thing, there's nothing left . . . 
 
 Anfisa, Couldn't you call Ferapont, Olga dear? I 
 can hardly manage . . . 
 
 Olga [rings] They'll never answer . . . [At the door] 
 
 50 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 51 
 
 Come here, whoever it is ! [Through the open door is seen 
 a window, red with flame; a fire-engine is heard passing 
 the house'] How awful this is. And how sick I am of it! 
 [Ferapont enters] Take these things down . . . The 
 Kolotilin girls are below . . . and let them have them. 
 This, too . . . 
 
 Ferapont. Yes'm. In the year twelve Moscow, too, 
 was in flames. God! The Frenchmen were surprised. 
 
 Olga. Go on, go on . . . 
 
 Ferapont. Yes'm. [Exit] 
 
 Olga. Nurse, dear, give them all we have. We 
 don't need anything. Give it all to them, nurse . . . 
 I'm tired, I can hardly stand on my legs . . . The Ver- 
 shinins mustn't be allowed to go home . . . The girls 
 can sleep in the drawing-room, and Alexander Ignateie- 
 vitch can go downstairs to the Baron's flat . . . Fedotik 
 can go there, too, or else into our living-room . . . The 
 doctor is drunk, beastly drunk, as if on purpose, so no- 
 body can go to him. Vershinin's wife, too, may go into 
 the drawing-room. 
 
 Anfisa [tired] Olga, dear girl, don't dismiss me! 
 Don't dismiss me! 
 
 Olga. You're talking nonsense, nurse. Nobody is dis- 
 missing you. 
 
 Anfisa [puts Olga J s head against her breast] My dear, 
 precious girl, I'm working, I'm toiling away . . . I'm 
 growing weak, and they'll all say go away ! And where 
 shall I go? Where? I'm eighty. Eighty-one years 
 old . . . 
 
 Olga. You sit down, nurse dear . . . You're tired, 
 
52 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 poor darling . . . [Makes her sit down] Rest, dear. 
 You're so pale! 
 
 [Natasha comes in"] 
 
 Natasha. They say that a committee to assist the 
 sufferers from the fire must be formed at once. What do 
 you think of that? It's a splendid idea. Of course, the 
 poor ought to be helped ; it's the duty of the rich. Bobby 
 and little Sophie are sleeping, sleeping as if nothing had 
 happened. There's such a lot of people here, the place 
 is full of them, wherever you go. There's influenza in 
 the town now. I'm afraid the children will catch it. 
 
 Olga [not listening to her] From this room we can't 
 see the fire, it's peaceful here . . . 
 
 Natasha. Yes ... I suppose I'm all untidy. [Be- 
 fore the looking-glass] They say I'm growing stout . . . 
 It isn't true! Certainly it isn't! Masha's asleep; the 
 poor thing is tired out . . . [Coldly, to Anfisa] Don't 
 dare sit down in my presence! Get up! Out of this! 
 [Exit Anfisa; a pause] I don't understand what makes 
 you keep that old woman! 
 
 Olga [confusedly] Excuse me, I don't understand, 
 either . . . 
 
 Natasha. She's no good here. She comes from the 
 country, she ought to live there . . . Spoiling her, I 
 call it! I like order in the house! We don't want any 
 unnecessary people here. [Caresses her cheek] You're 
 tired, poor thing! Our head mistress is tired! And 
 when my little Sophie grows up and goes to school I 
 shall be so afraid of you. 
 
 Olga. I shan't be head mistress. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 53 
 
 Natasha. They'll appoint you, Olga. It's settled. 
 
 Olga. I'll refuse the post. I can't . . . I'm not 
 strong enough . . . [Drinks a glass of water] You were 
 so rude to nurse just now . . . Fm sorry. I can't stand 
 it . . . everything seems dark before my eyes . . . 
 
 Natasha [excited] Forgive me, Olga, forgive me . . . 
 I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. 
 
 [Masha gets up> takes a pillow and goes out angrily] 
 
 Olga. Try to understand, my dear ... we have 
 been brought up in an unusual way, perhaps, but I really 
 can't stand it. Such behavior has a terrible effect on me, 
 I get ill . . . It makes me so despondent ! 
 
 Natasha. Forgive me, forgive me . . . [Kisses her] 
 
 Olga. The least bit of rudeness, the slightest dis- 
 courtesy, upsets me. 
 
 Natasha. I often say too much, it's true, but you 
 must agree, dear, that she might just as well live in the 
 country. 
 
 Olga. She has been with us for thirty years. 
 
 Natasha. But she can't do any work now. Either I 
 don't understand you, or you don't want to understand 
 me. She's not able to work, she only sleeps or sits around. 
 
 Olga. Very well ! Let her sit around ! 
 
 Natasha [surprised] What do you mean ? She's only 
 a servant. [Crying] I don't understand you, Olga. I've 
 got a nurse, a wet-nurse, we've a cook, a housemaid . . . 
 what do we want that old woman for as well? What 
 good is she? [Fire-alarm back stage] 
 
 Olga. I've grown ten years older to-night. 
 
 Natasha. We must come to an agreement, Olga. 
 
54 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Your place is the school, mine — the home. You de- 
 vote yourself to teaching, I, to the household. And if I 
 talk about servants, then I know what I am talking about ; 
 I know what I am talking about . . . And to-morrow 
 there's to be no more of that old thief, that old hag . . . 
 [Stamping her foot] That witch ! And don't you dare 
 annoy me! Don't you dare! [Stopping short] Really, 
 if you don't move downstairs, we shall always be quar- 
 reling. This is awful. 
 
 [Enter Kuligin] 
 
 Kuligin. Where's Masha? It's time we went home. 
 The fire seems to be burning out. [Stretches himself] 
 Only one block has burnt down, but there was such a 
 wind that it seemed at first the whole town was going 
 tip in flames. [Sits] I'm tired. My dear Olga ... I 
 often think that if it hadn't been for Masha, I should 
 have married you. You are such a kindly girl ... I am 
 absolutely tired out. [Listens] 
 
 Olga. What is it? 
 
 Kuligin. The doctor, of course, has been drinking 
 hard; he's terribly drunk. He might have done it on 
 purpose! [Gets up] He seems to be coming here . . . 
 Do you hear him? Yes, here . . . [Laughs] What a 
 man . . . really . . . I'll hide. [Goes to the closet, and 
 hides in the corner] What a scoundrel! 
 
 Olga. He hasn't touched a drop for two years, and 
 now he suddenly goes and gets drunk . . . 
 
 [Retires with Natasha to the back of the room. Tche- 
 butikin enters; apparently sober, he stops, looks round, 
 then goes to the wash-stand and begins to wash his hands] 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 55 
 
 Tchebutikin [morosely] Devil take them all . . . 
 take them all . . . They think I'm a doctor and can cure 
 everything, and I know absolutely nothing, I've forgotten 
 all I ever knew, I remember nothing, absolutely nothing. 
 [Olga and Natasha leave, unnoticed by him] Devil take 
 it. Last Wednesday I attended a woman in Zosip — and 
 she died, and it's my fault that she died. Yes ... I 
 used to know a certain amount five-and-twenty years ago, 
 but I don't remember anything now. Nothing. Per- 
 haps I'm not really a man, and am only pretending that 
 I have arms and legs and a head; perhaps I don't exist 
 at all, and only imagine that I walk, and eat, and sleep. 
 [Cries] Oh, if only I didn't exist! [Stops crying; mor- 
 osely] The devil only knows . . . Day before yesterday 
 they were talking at the club; they mentioned Shake- 
 speare, Voltaire . . .I've never read, never read at all, 
 and I made believe as if I had. So did the others. Oh, 
 how beastly! How petty! And then I remembered the 
 woman whom I attended and who died on Wednes- 
 day . . . and I couldn't get her out of my thoughts, and 
 everything in my soul turned crooked, nasty, wretched 
 ... So I drank to forget . . . 
 
 [Irina, Vershinin and Tuzenbach enter; Tuzenbach is 
 wearing new and fashionable civilian clothes] 
 
 Irina. Let's sit down. Nobody will come in here. 
 
 Vershinin. The whole town would have been de- 
 stroyed if it hadn't been for the soldiers. Good men! 
 [Rubs his hands appreciatively] Splendid people! Oh, 
 what a fine lot ! 
 
 Kuligin [coming up to him] What's the time? 
 
56 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Tuzenbach. It's after three now. Dawn is here. 
 
 Irina. They are all sitting in the living-room, nobody 
 thinks of leaving. And that Solyony of yours is sitting 
 there . . . [To Tchebutikin] Hadn't you better go to 
 sleep, doctor? 
 
 Tchebutikin. It's all right . . . thank you • • • 
 [Combs his beard] 
 
 Kuligin [laughs] Your tongue is a bit thick, eh, Ivan 
 Romanovitch! [Pats him on the shoulder] Good man! 
 In vino Veritas, the ancients used to say. 
 
 Tuzenbach. They keep on asking me to arrange a 
 concert in aid of the sufferers. 
 
 Irina. As if one could do anything . . . 
 
 Tuzenbach. It might be arranged, if necessary. In 
 my opinion, Maria Sergeievna is an excellent pianist. 
 
 Kuligin. Yes, excellent! 
 
 Irina. She's forgotten everything. She hasn't played 
 for three years ... or four. 
 
 Tuzenbach. In this town absolutely nobody under- 
 stands music, not a soul, except myself, and I assure you 
 on my word of honor that Maria Sergeievna plays beau- 
 tifully, almost with genius. 
 
 Kuligin. You are right, Baron. I'm awfully fond of 
 Masha. She's very fine. 
 
 Tuzenbach. To be able to play so beautifully and 
 to realize at the same time that nobody, nobody can 
 understand you ! 
 
 Kuligin [sighs] Yes . . . But is it proper for her 
 to appear in a concert? [Pause] You see, I don't know 
 anything! Perhaps it will be all right. I admit that 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 57 
 
 our director is a kindly fellow, very kindly indeed, very 
 brainy. But his views are rather conventional . . . Of 
 course it is none of his business but still, if you wish, 
 perhaps I'd better talk to him. 
 
 [Tchebutikin takes a porcelain clock into his hands and 
 examines it] 
 
 Vershinin. I got so dirty during the fire, I don't 
 look like anybody on earth. [Pause] Yesterday, I hap- 
 pened to overhear casually that they desire to transfer our 
 brigade to some distant place. Some said to Poland, 
 others, to Chita. 
 
 Tuzenbach. I heard so, too. Well, if it is so, the 
 town will be quite empty. 
 
 Irina. And we'll go away, too! 
 
 Tchebutikin [drops the clock which breaks to pieces] 
 To pieces! 
 
 [A pause; everybody is pained and confused] 
 
 Kuligin [gathering up the pieces] To smash such an 
 expensive thing ! — Oh, Ivan Romanovitch, Ivan Roman- 
 ovitch ! You'll get a zero mark in behavior ! 
 
 Irina. That clock used to belong to our late mother. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Perhaps . . . To your mother, your 
 mother. Perhaps I didn't break it; it only looks as if I 
 broke it. Perhaps we only think that we exist, when 
 really we don't. I don't know anything, nobody knows 
 anything. [At the door] What are you looking at? 
 Natasha has a little romance with Protopopoff, and you 
 don't see it . . . There you sit and see nothing, and 
 Natasha has a little romance with Protopopoff . . . 
 [Sings] Won't you please accept this date . . . [Exit] 
 
5 8 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Vershinin. Yes. [Laughs] How strange everything 
 really is ! [Pause] When the fire broke out, I hurried off 
 home; when I get there I see the house is whole, unin- 
 jured, and in no danger, but my two girls are standing by 
 the door in just their underclothes, their mother isn't 
 there, the crowd is excited, horses and dogs are running 
 about, and the girl's faces are so agitated, terrified, be- 
 seeching, and I don't know what else. My heart hurt me, 
 when I saw those faces. My God, I thought, what these 
 girls will have to put up with if they live long! I caught 
 them up and ran, and still kept on thinking the one 
 thing: what they will have to live through in this world! 
 [Fire-alarm; a pause] I come here and find their mother 
 shouting and angry. [Masha enters with a pillow and 
 sits on the sofa] And when my girls were standing by 
 the door in just their underclothes, and the street was red 
 from the fire, there was a dreadful noise, and I thought 
 that something of the sort used to happen many years ago 
 when an enemy made a sudden attack, and looted, and 
 burned . . . And at the same time what a difference 
 there really is between the present and the past! And 
 when a little more time has gone by, in two or three 
 hundred years perhaps, people will look at our present 
 life with just the same fear, and the same contempt, and 
 the whole past will seem clumsy and dull, and very un- 
 comfortable, and strange. Oh, indeed, what a life there 
 will be, what a life! [Laughs] Forgive me, I've dropped 
 into philosophy again. Please let me continue. I do long 
 to philosophize, I'm in just that sort of mood. [Pause] 
 As if they are all asleep. As I was saying : what a life 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 59 
 
 there will be! Only just imagine . . . There are only 
 three persons like yourselves in the town just now, but in 
 future generations there will be more and more, and still 
 more, and the time will come when everything will change 
 and become as you would have it, people will live as you 
 do, and then you, too, will go out of date; people will be 
 born who are better than you . . . [Laughs] Yes, to-day, 
 I am in a most peculiar mood. I am devilishly keen on 
 living . . . [Sings] "The power of love is known to 
 all the world, Great good grows out of it — " [Laughs] 
 
 Masha. Tra-ta-ta? ... 
 
 Vershinin. Tra-ta-ta . . . 
 
 Masha. Tra-ra-ram-tam-tam ? 
 
 Vershinin. Tra-ra-ram-tam-tam. [Laughs] 
 
 [Enter Fedotik] 
 
 Fedotik [dancing] Гт burnt out, Гт burnt out! 
 Down to the ground! [Laughter] 
 
 Irina. I don't see anything funny about it. Is every- 
 thing burnt? 
 
 Fedotik [laughs] Absolutely. Nothing left at all. 
 The guitar's burnt, and the photographs are burnt, and 
 all my correspondence . . . And I was going to make 
 you a present of a note-book, and that's burnt, too. 
 
 [Solyony comes in] 
 
 Irina. No, you can't come here, Vassily Vassilievitch. 
 Please go away. 
 
 Solyony. Why can the Baron come here and not I ? 
 
 Vershinin. We really must go. How's the fire? 
 
 Solyony. They say it's dying down. No, I absolutely 
 
6o THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 don't see why the Baron can, and not I ! [Scents his 
 hands'] 
 
 Vershinin. Tra-ra-ram-tam-tam ? 
 
 Masha. Tra-ra-ram-tam-tam. 
 
 Vershinin [laughs to Solyony] Let's go into the 
 living-room. 
 
 Solyony. Very well, we'll make a note of it. "If I 
 should try to make this clear, the geese would be annoyed, 
 I fear." [Looks at Tuzenbach] There, there, there . • . 
 
 [Goes out with Vershinin and Fedotik] 
 
 Irina. How Solyony smoked! . . . [In surprise] 
 The Baron's asleep! Baron! Baron! 
 
 Tuzenbach [waking] I am tired, I must say . . . 
 The brickworks . . . No, I'm not raving, I mean it; 
 I'm going to start work soon at the brickworks . . . 
 I've already talked it over. [Tenderly , to Irina] You're 
 so pale, and beautiful, and charming . . . Your paleness 
 pierces the dark air like light . . . You are sad, dis- 
 pleased with life . . . Oh, come with me, let's go and 
 work together! 
 
 Masha. Nikolai Lvovitch, go away from here. 
 
 Tuzenbach [laughs] Are you here? I didn't see you. 
 [Kisses Irina' s hand] Good-bye, I'm going ... I look 
 at you now and I remember, as if it was long ago, your 
 birthday when you, cheerfully and merrily, were talking 
 about the joys of labor! . . . And how happy life seemed 
 to me, then! What has happened to it now? [Kisses 
 her hand] There are tears in your eyes. Go to bed now ; 
 it is already daybreak . . . morning is here ... If 
 only I was allowed to give my life for you ! 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 61 
 
 Masha. Nikolai Lvovitch, go away! Really — 
 
 Tuzenbach. Гт off. [Exit] 
 
 Masha [lies down] Are you asleep, Fyodor? 
 
 Kuligin. Eh ? 
 
 Masha. Shouldn't you go home? 
 
 Kuligin. My dear Masha, my darling Masha . . . 
 
 Irina. She's tired. You might let her rest, Fedia. 
 
 Kuligin. Г11 go at once. My wife is good, fine . . . 
 I love you, my only one . . . 
 
 Masha [angrily] A mo, amasj amai, amamus, amatis, 
 amant. 
 
 Kuligin [laughs] No, she is really wonderful. IVe 
 been your husband seven years, and it seems as if I mar- 
 ried only yesterday. On my word. No, you really are a 
 wonderful woman. Гт pleased, Гт pleased, Гт 
 pleased ! 
 
 Masha. Гт bored, Гт bored, Гт bored . . • 
 [Sits up] But I can't get it out of my head . . . It's 
 simply disgraceful. It has been gnawing away at me . . . 
 I can't keep silent. I mean about Andrei . . . He has 
 mortgaged this house at the bank . . . and his wife has 
 all the money ; but the house doesn't belong to him alone, 
 but to the four of us! He ought to know that, if he's an 
 honorable man. 
 
 Kuligin. What's the use, Masha? Andrei is in debt 
 all round ; well, let him do as he pleases. 
 
 Masha. It's disgraceful, anyway. [Lies down] 
 
 Kuligin. You and I are not poor. I work, teach my 
 classes, give private lessons . . , lama plain, honest 
 man . . . Omnia me a me cum porto, as they say. 
 
62 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Masha. I don't want anything, but the unfairness 
 of it disgusts me. [Pause] You go, Fyodor. 
 
 Kuligin [kisses her] You are tired, just rest for half 
 an hour, and I'll sit and wait for you. Sleep . . . 
 [Going] I'm pleased, Fm pleased, Fm pleased . • . 
 [Exit] 
 
 Irina. Yes, really, our Andrei has lost weight; how 
 mediocre and old and trite he has become through that 
 woman's influence! Really — formerly he wished to 
 be a professor, and yesterday he was boasting that at last 
 he had been made a member of the district council. He 
 is a member, and Protopopoff is chairman . . . The 
 whole town talks and laughs about it, and he alone knows 
 and sees nothing . . . And now everybody's gone to 
 watch the fire, but he sits alone in his room and pays no 
 attention, only just plays on his violin. [Nervously] 
 Oh, it's awful, awful, awful. [Weeps] I can't, I can't 
 bear it any longer! ... I can't, I can't! . . . 
 
 [Olga comes in and puts in order her little table. Irina 
 is sobbing loudly] Throw me out, throw me out, I 
 can't bear any more! 
 
 Olga [alarmed] What is it, what is it? Dear! 
 
 Irina [sobbing] Where? Where has everything gone? 
 Where is it all? Oh, my God, my God! I've forgotten 
 everything, everything ... I don't remember what is the 
 Italian for window, or, well, for ceiling ... I forget 
 everything, every day I forget it, and life passes and will 
 never return, and we'll never go to Moscow ... I 
 see that we'll never go . . . 
 
 Olga. Dear, dear . . . 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 63 
 
 Irina [controlling herself] Oh, I am unhappy ... I 
 can't work, I shan't work. Enough, enough! I used to 
 be a telegraph operator, now I work at the town council 
 offices, and I have nothing but hate and contempt for all 
 they give me to do . . . I am already twenty-three, I 
 have already been at work for a long while, and my brain 
 has dried up, and Гѵе grown thin, plain, old, and there is 
 no relief of any sort, and time goes and it seems all the 
 while as if I were going away from the real, the beautiful 
 life, farther and farther away, down some precipice. I'm 
 in despair and I can't understand how it is that I am still 
 alive, that I haven't killed myself. 
 
 Olga. Don't cry, dear girl, don't cry ... I suffer, 
 too. 
 
 Irina. I'm not crying, not crying . . . Enough . . . 
 Look, I'm not crying any more. Enough . . . enough! 
 
 Olga. Dear, I tell you as a sister and a friend, if you 
 care for my advice, marry the Baron. [Irina cries softly] 
 You respect him, you think highly of him . . . It is true 
 that he is not handsome, but he is so honorable and 
 clean . . . people don't marry for love, but for the sake 
 of duty. I think so, at any rate, and I'd marry without 
 being in love. Whoever he is, I should marry him, as 
 long as he is a decent man. Even if he is old . . . 
 
 Irina. I was always waiting until we should be 
 settled in Moscow ; there I would have met my true love ; 
 I used to dream of him, and love him . . . But it's all 
 turned out to be nonsense, all nonsense . . . 
 
 Olga [embraces her sister] My dear, beautiful sister, 
 I understand everything; when Baron Nikolai Lvovitch 
 
64 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 left the army and came to us in correct dress, he seemed 
 so bad-looking to me that I even started crying . . . He 
 asked, "What are you crying for?" How could I tell 
 him ! But if God meant him to marry you, I would be 
 happy. That would be different, quite different. 
 
 [Natasha with a candle walks across the stage from 
 right to left without speaking] 
 
 Masha [sitting up] She walks as if she had set some- 
 thing on fire. 
 
 Olga. Masha, you're silly, you're the silliest of the 
 family. Please forgive me for saying so. [Pause] 
 
 Masha. I must make a confession, dear sisters. My 
 soul is in pain. I will confess to you, and never again 
 to anybody . . . I'll tell you this minute. [Softly] It's 
 my secret but you must know everything ... I can't be 
 silent . . . [Pause] I love, I love ... I love that 
 man . . . You saw him only just now . . . Why don't 
 I say it ... in one word. I love Vershinin. 
 
 Olga [goes behind her screen] Stop that, I won't even 
 listen to you ! 
 
 Masha. What am I to do? [Takes her head in her 
 hands] First he seemed queer to me, then I was sorry for 
 him . . . then I fell in love with him . . . fell in love 
 with his voice, his words, his misfortune, his two 
 daughters. 
 
 Olga [behind the screen] I'm not listening. You may 
 talk any nonsense you like, it will be all the same, I shan't 
 hear. 
 
 Masha. Oh, Olga, you are foolish. I am in love — 
 that means that is to be my fate. It means that is to be 
 my lot . . . And he loves me . . . It is all awful. Yes ; 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 65 
 
 it isn't good, is it? [Takes Irinds hand and draws her 
 to her] Oh, my dear . . . How are we to go through 
 with our lives, what is to become of us? . . . When you 
 read a novel it all seems so easy and plain, but when you 
 fall in love yourself, then you learn that nobody knows 
 anything, and each must decide for himself . . . My 
 dear ones, my sisters . . . Гѵе confessed, now I shall 
 keep silence . . . Like the lunatics in Gogol's story, I'm 
 going to be silent . . . silent . . . 
 
 [Andrei enters, followed by Ferapont] 
 
 Andrei [angrily] What do you want? I don't under- 
 stand. 
 
 Ferapont [at the door J impatiently] I've already told 
 you ten times, Andrei Sergeievitch. 
 
 Andrei. In the first place I'm not Andrei Sergeievitch, 
 but your honor. 
 
 Ferapont. The firemen, sir, ask if they can cut across 
 your garden to the river. Else they have to go all the 
 way round, all the way round; it's a nuisance. 
 
 Andrei. All right. Tell them it's all right. [Exit 
 Ferapont] I'm tired of them. Where is Olga? [Olga 
 comes out from behind the screen] I came to you for the 
 key of the closet. I lost my own. You have a little key. 
 [Olga gives him the key; Irina goes behind her screen; 
 pause] What a huge fire ! It's going down now. Hang 
 it all, that Ferapont made me so angry that I talked non- 
 sense to him . . . Your honor, indeed . . . [A pause] 
 Why are you so silent, Olga? [Pause] It's time you 
 stopped all that nonsense and behaved as if you were 
 properly alive . . . You are here, Masha. Irina is here. 
 Well, since we're all here, let's come to a complete under- 
 
66 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 standing, once and for all. What have you against me? 
 What is it? 
 
 Olga. Please don't, Andrei dear. We'll talk to- 
 morrow. [Excited] What an awful night! 
 
 Andrei [much confused] Don't excite yourself. I ask 
 you in perfect calmness; what have you against me? Tell 
 me straight. 
 
 Vershinin's Voice. Tra-ra-ram-tam-tam ! 
 
 Masha [stands; loudly] Tra-ta-ta! [To Olga] Good- 
 bye, Olga, God bless you. [Goes behind screen and 
 kisses Irina] Sleep well . . . Good-bye, Andrei. Go 
 away now, they're tired . • . you can explain to-mor- 
 row . . . [Exit] 
 
 Olga. Let's postpone this until to-morrow, Andrei! 
 [Goes behind the screen] It's time to go to bed. 
 
 Andrei. I'll only say this and go. At once ... In 
 the first place, you have something against Natasha, my 
 wife; I've noticed it since the very day of my marriage. 
 Natasha is a beautiful and honest creature, straight and 
 honorable — that's my opinion. I love and respect my 
 wife; understand it, I respect her, and I insist that others 
 respect her, too. I repeat, she's an honest and honorable 
 person, and all your disapproval is simply silly . . • 
 [Pause] In the second place, you seem to be annoyed 
 because I am not a professor, and am not engaged in study. 
 But I work for the zemstvo, I am a member of the dis- 
 trict council, and I consider my service as worthy and as 
 high as the service of science. I am a member of the dis- 
 trict council, and I am proud of it, if you want to 
 know . • . [Pause] In the third place, I have still this 
 to say . . . that I have mortgaged the house without ob- 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 67 
 
 taming your permission . . . For that I am to blame, and 
 ask to be forgiven. My debts led me into doing it . . . 
 thirty-five thousand ... I do not play at cards any 
 more, I stopped long ago, but the chief thing I have to say 
 in my defense is that you girls receive a pension, and I 
 don't ... my wages, so to speak . . . [Pause] 
 
 Kuligin [at the door] Is Masha there? [Excitedly] 
 Where is she? It's queer . . . [Exit] 
 
 Andrei. They don't hear. Natasha is a splendid, 
 honest person. [Walks about in silence, then stops] When 
 I married I thought we should be happy ... all of 
 us . . . But, my God . . . [Weeps] My dear, dear 
 sisters, don't believe me, don't believe me . . . [Exit] 
 
 [Fire-alarm. The stage is empty] 
 
 Irina [behind her screen] Olga, who's knocking on 
 the floor? 
 
 Olga. It's Doctor Ivan Romanovitch. He's drunk. 
 
 Irina. What a restless night ! [Pause] Olga! [Looks 
 out] Did you hear? They are taking the brigade away 
 from us; it's going to be transferred to some place far 
 away. 
 
 Olga. It's only a rumor. 
 
 Irina. Then we shall be left alone . . . Olga! 
 
 Olga. Well? 
 
 Irina. My dear, darling sister, I esteem, I highly 
 value the Baron, he's a splendid man; I'll marry him, 
 I'll consent, only let's go to Moscow! I implore you, 
 let's go ! There's nothing better than Moscow on earth ! 
 Let's go, Olga, let's go! 
 
 CURTAIN. 
 
 / 
 
ACT FOUR. 
 
 The old garden at the house of the Prozoroffs. There 
 is a long avenue of firs, at the end of which the river can 
 be seen. There is a forest on the far side of the river. 
 On the right is the terrace of the house: bottles and 
 tumblers are on a table here; it is evident that champagne 
 has just been drunk. It is midday. Every now and again 
 passers-by walk across the garden, from the road to the 
 river; five soldiers go past rapidly. Tchebutikin, in a 
 comfortable frame of mind which does not desert him 
 throughout the act, sits in an armchair in the garden, 
 waiting to be called. He wears a peaked cap and has a 
 stick. Irina, Kuligin with a cross hanging from his neck 
 and without his mustaches, and Tuzenbach are standing 
 on the terrace seeing off Fedotik and Rode, who are com- 
 ing down into the garden; both officers are in service 
 uniform. 
 
 Tuzenbach [exchanges kisses with Fedotik'] You're a 
 good sort, we got on so well together. [Exchanges kisses 
 with Rode] Once again . . . Good-bye, old man ! 
 
 Irina. Au revoir! 
 
 Fedotik. It isn't au revoir, it's good-bye; we'll never 
 meet again! 
 
 Kuligin. Who knows! [Wipes his eyes; smiles] 
 Here I've started crying! 
 
 Irina. We'll meet again sometime. 
 
 Fedotik. After ten years — or fifteen ? We'll hardly 
 
 68 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 69 
 
 know one another then; we'll say, "How do you do?" 
 coldly . . . [Takes a snapshot] Keep still . . . Once 
 more, for the last time. 
 
 Rode [embracing Tuzenbach] We shan't meet again 
 • . . [Kisses Irina's hand] Thank you for everything, for 
 everything ! 
 
 Fedotik [grieved] Don't be in such a hurry! 
 
 Tuzenbach. We shall meet again, if God wills it. 
 Write to us. Be sure to write. 
 
 Rode [looking round the garden] Good-bye, trees! 
 [Shouts] Yo-ho! [Pause] Good-bye, echo! 
 
 Kuligin. Best wishes. Go and get yourselves wives 
 there in Poland . . . Your Polish wife will embrace you 
 and call you "kochanku!" [Laughs] 
 
 Fedotik [looking at the time] There's less than an 
 hour left. Solyony is the only one of our battery who is 
 going on the barge ; the rest of us are going with the main 
 body. Three batteries are leaving to-day, another three 
 to-morrow and then the town will be quiet and peaceful. 
 
 Tuzenbach. And terribly dull. 
 
 Rode. And where is Maria Sergeievna? 
 
 Kuligin. Masha is in the garden. 
 Fedotik. We'd like to say good-bye to her. 
 Rode. Good-bye, I must go, or else I'll commence 
 weeping . . . [Quickly embraces Kuligin and Tuzenbach, 
 and kisses Irinds hand] We've been so happy here . . . 
 Fedotik [to Kuligin] Here's a keepsake for you . . . 
 a note-book with a pencil . . . We'll go to the river from 
 here . . . [They go aside and both look round] 
 Rode [shouts] Yo-ho! 
 
70 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Kuligin [shouts] Good-bye. 
 
 [In the background Fedotik and Rode meet Masha; 
 they say good-bye and go out with her] 
 
 Irina. They've gone . . . [Sits on the bottom step 
 of the terrace] 
 
 Tchebutikin. And they forgot to say good-bye to 
 me. 
 
 Irina. Why so? 
 
 Tchebutikin. I just forgot, somehow. Though I 
 shall see them again soon. I'm going to-morrow. Yes 
 . . . just one day left. I shall be retired in a year, then 
 Г11 come here again and finish my life near you. Гѵе 
 only one year before I receive my pension . . . [Puts 
 one newspaper into his pocket and takes out another] 
 111 come here to you and change my life radically . . . 
 Ill be so quiet ... so agree . . . agreeable, respect- 
 able . . . 
 
 Irina. Yes, you ought to change your life, dear man, 
 somehow or other. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Yes, I feel it. [Sings softly] "Tarara- 
 boom-deay ..." 
 
 Kuligin. We won't reform Ivan Romanovitch ! We 
 won't reform him! 
 
 Tchebutikin. If only you would teach me how! 
 Then I would reform! 
 
 Irina. Fyodor has shaved his mustache! I can't 
 bear to look at him. 
 
 Kuligin. Well, what about it? 
 
 Tchebutikin. I could tell you what your face looks 
 like now, but it wouldn't be polite. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 71 
 
 Kuligin. Well! It's the custom, it's the modus 
 vivendi. Our Director is clean-shaven, and so I, too, 
 when I received my inspectorship, had my mustaches re- 
 moved. Nobody likes it, but it's all the same to me. I'm 
 satisfied. Whether I have mustaches or not, I'm satis- 
 fied .. . [Sits] 
 
 [In the background Andrei is wheeling a perambulator 
 with a sleeping child] 
 
 Irina. Ivan Romanovitch, be a darling. I'm awfully 
 worried. You were out on the boulevard last night; tell 
 me, what happened? 
 
 Tchebutikin. What happened? Nothing. Quite a 
 trifling matter. [Reads paper] Of no importance ! 
 
 Kuligin. They say that Solyony and the Baron met 
 yesterday on the boulevard near the theatre . . . 
 
 Tuzenbach. Stop! Really — [Waves his hand and 
 goes into the house] 
 
 Kuligin. Near the theatre . . . Solyony behaved 
 offensively to the Baron, who lost his temper and said 
 something nasty . . . 
 
 Tchebutikin. I don't know. It's all nonsense. 
 
 Kuligin. At some seminary or other a master wrote 
 "nonsense" on an essay, and the student couldn't make 
 the letters out — thought it was some sort of a Latin 
 word. [Laughs] Awfully funny, that. They say that 
 Solyony is in love with Irina and hates the Baron . . . 
 That's quite natural. Irina is a very nice girl. She's 
 like Masha. She's so pensive . . . Only, Irina, your 
 character is more gentle. Though Masha's character, 
 too, is very good. I'm very fond of Masha. 
 
7 2 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 [Shouts of "Yo-ho!" are heard behind the stage] 
 
 Irina [shudders] Everything seems to frighten me to- 
 day. [Pause] I have everything ready, and I send my 
 things off after dinner. The Baron and I will be mar- 
 ried to-morrow, and to-morrow we go away to the brick- 
 works, and the next day I go to the school, and the new 
 life begins. God will help me! When I took my ex- 
 amination for the teacher's post, I actually wept for joy 
 and gratitude . . . [Pause] The cart will be here in a 
 minute for my things . . . 
 
 Kuligin. Somehow or other, all this doesn't seem 
 at all real. As if it were all ideas, and nothing really 
 actual. Still, with all my soul I wish you happiness. 
 
 Tchebutikin [with deep feeling] My splendid . . . 
 my dear, precious girl . . . You've made some progress, 
 I won't catch up with you. Fm left behind like a 
 migrant bird grown old, and unable to fly. Fly, my dear, 
 fly, and God be with you! [Pause] It's a pity you 
 shaved your mustaches, Fyodor Ilyitch. 
 
 Kuligin. Oh, forget it! [Sighs] To-day the sol- 
 diers will be gone, and everything will continue as in 
 the old days. Say what you will, Masha is a good, 
 honest woman. I love her very much, and am grateful 
 for my fate. People have such different fates. There's 
 a Kosireff who works in the excise department here. He 
 was at school with me; he was expelled from the fifth 
 class of the High School for being entirely unable to 
 understand ut consecutivum. He's awfully hard up now 
 and in very poor health, and when I meet him I say to 
 him, "How do you do, ut consecutivum" "Yes," he 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 73 
 
 says, "precisely consecutivum . . ." and coughs. But 
 Гѵе been successful all my life, Fm happy, and I even 
 have a Stanislaus Cross, of the second class, and now I 
 myself teach others that ut consecutivum. Of course, 
 Fma clever man, much cleverer than many, but happi- 
 ness doesn't lie only in that. . . . 
 
 ["The Maiden s Prayer' is being played on the piano 
 in the house"] 
 
 Irina. To-morrow night I shan't hear that 
 "Maiden's Prayer" any more, and I shan't be meeting 
 Protopopoff. [Pause] Protopopoff is sitting there in the 
 drawing room; and he came to-day . . . 
 
 Kuligin. Hasn't the head-mistress come yet? 
 
 Irina. No. She has been sent for. If you only 
 knew how difficult it is for me to live alone, without 
 Olga . . . She lives at the High School; she, a head- 
 mistress, busy all day with her affairs and I'm alone, 
 bored, with nothing to do, and hate the room I live in 
 . . . I've made up my mind: if I can't live in Moscow, 
 then it must come to this. It's fate. It can't be helped. 
 It's all the will of God, that's the truth. Nikolai 
 Lvovitch proposed to me. Well? I thought it over 
 and accepted. He's a good man . . . it's quite remark- 
 able how good he is . . . And suddenly my soul took 
 wings, I became happy, and light-hearted, and once again 
 the desire for work, work, came over me . . . Only 
 something happened yesterday, some secret dread has 
 been hanging over me . . . 
 
 Tchebutikin. Rubbish. Nonsense. 
 
 Natasha [at the window] The head-mistress. 
 
74 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Kuligin. The head-mistress is here. Let's go. 
 [Exit with Irina into the house'] 
 
 Tchebutikin [reads his paper and hums softly] . . . 
 "Tara-ra . . . boom-deay." 
 
 [Masha approaches, Andrei is wheeling a perambu- 
 lator in the background] 
 
 Masha. Here you sit, doing nothing. 
 
 Tchebutikin. What then? 
 
 Masha [sits] Nothing . . . [Pause] Did you love 
 my mother? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Very much. 
 
 Masha. And did she love you ? 
 
 Tchebutikin [after a pause] I don't remember that. 
 
 Masha. Is my man here? When our cook Martha 
 used to ask about her policeman, she called him "my 
 man." Is he here? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Not yet. 
 
 Masha. When you take your happiness in little 
 bits, in snatches, and then lose it, as I have done, you 
 gradually grow coarser, more bitter. [Points to her 
 breast] I'm boiling in here . . . [Looks at Andrei with 
 the perambulator] There's our brother Andrei . . . All 
 our hopes in him have gone. There was once a great 
 bell, a thousand persons were hoisting it, much money 
 and labor had been spent on it, when it suddenly fell 
 and was broken. Suddenly, for no particular reason 
 . . . Andrei is like that . . . 
 
 Andrei. When are they going to stop making such 
 a noise in the house? It's awful. 
 
 Tchebutikin. They won't be much longer. [Looks 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 75 
 
 at his watch'] My watch is very old-fashioned, it strikes 
 the hours . . . [Winds the watch and makes it strike] 
 The first, second, and fifth batteries are to leave at one 
 o'clock precisely. {Pause] And I go to-morrow. 
 
 Andrei. Forever? 
 
 Tchebutikin. I don't know. Perhaps I'll return 
 in a year. The devil only knows . . . it's all one . . . 
 
 [Somewhere a harp and violin are being played] 
 
 Andrei. The town will grow empty. It will be 
 as if they put a cover over it. [Pause] Something hap- 
 pened yesterday near the theatre. The whole town knows 
 of it, but I don't. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Nothing. A silly little affair. 
 Solyony annoyed the Baron, who lost his temper and 
 insulted him, and so at last Solyony had to challenge 
 him. [Looks at his watch] It's about time, I think . . . 
 At half-past twelve, in the public wood, the one you 
 can see from here across the river . . . Piff-paff. 
 [Laughs] Solyony thinks he's Lermontoff, and even 
 writes verses. That's all very well, but this is his third 
 duel. 
 
 Mash a. Whose? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Solyony's. 
 
 Masha. And the Baron? 
 
 Tchebutikin. What about the Baron? [Pause] 
 
 Masha. Everything's all muddled up in my head 
 . . . But I say it should not be allowed. He might 
 wound the Baron or even kill him. 
 
 Tchebutikin. The Baron is a good man, but one 
 Baron more or less — what difference does it make? It's 
 
76 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 all the same! [Beyond the garden somebody shouts 
 "Co-ee! Hallo Г] You wait. That's Skvortsoff shout- 
 ing; one of the seconds. He's in a boat. [Pause] 
 
 Andrei. In my opinion it's simply immoral to fight 
 a duel, or to witness one, even in the quality of a doctor. 
 
 Tchebutikin. It only seems so . . . We don't 
 exist, there's nothing on earth, we don't really live, it 
 only seems that we live. Does it matter, anyway! 
 
 Masha. You talk and talk the whole day long . . . 
 [Going] You live in a climate like this, where it might 
 snow any moment, and there you talk . . „ [Stops] 
 I won't go into the house, I can't . . . [Goes along the 
 avenue] The migrant birds are already on the wing 
 . . . [Looks up] Swans or geese. My dear, happy 
 things . . . [Exit] 
 
 Andrei. Our house will be empty. The officers will 
 go away, you are going, my sister is getting married, 
 and I alone will remain in the house. 
 
 Tchebutikin. What about your wife? 
 
 [Ferapont enters with some documents] 
 
 Andrei. A wife's a wife. She's honest, well-bred, 
 yes, and kind, but with all that there is still something 
 about her that degenerates her into a petty, blind, even in 
 some respects misshapen animal. In any case, she isn't 
 a human being. I tell you as a friend, as the only man 
 to whom I can lay bare my soul. I love Natasha, it's 
 true, but sometimes she seems extraordinarily vulgar, 
 and then I lose myself and can't understand why I love 
 her so much, or, at any rate, used to love her . . . 
 
 Tchebtikin [rises] I'm going away to-morrow, old 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 77 
 
 chap, and perhaps we'll never meet again, so here's my 
 advice. Put on your cap, take a stick in your hand, 
 go ... go on and on, without looking round. And 
 the farther you go, the better. 
 
 [Solyony goes across the back of the stage with two 
 officers; he catches sight of Tchebutikin, and turns to 
 him, the officers go on] 
 
 Solyony. Doctor, it's time. It's half-past twelve 
 already. [Shakes hands with Andrei] 
 
 Tchebutikin. Half a minute. I'm tired of the lot 
 of you. [To Andrei] If anybody asks for me, say I'll 
 be back soon . . . [Sighs] Oh, oh, oh! 
 
 Solyony. "He didn't have the time to sigh. The 
 bear sat on him heavily." [Goes up to him] What are 
 you groaning for, old man? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Stop it! 
 
 Solyony. How's your health? 
 
 Tchebutikin [angry] As smooth as oil! 
 
 Solyony. The old man is unnecessarily excited. I 
 won't go far, I'll just bring him down like a snipe. 
 [Takes out his scent-bottle and scents his hands] I've 
 poured out a whole bottle of scent to-day and they still 
 smell ... of a dead body. [Pause] Yes . . . You re- 
 member the poem 
 
 "But he, the rebel seeks the storm, 
 As if the storm will bring him rest . . ."? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Yes. 
 
 "He didn't have the time to sigh, 
 The bear sat on him heavily." 
 
78 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 [Exit with Solyony. Shouts are heard. Andrei and 
 Ferapont come in] 
 
 Ferapont. Documents to sign . . . 
 
 Andrei [irritated] Go away! Leave me! Please! 
 [Goes away with the perambulator] 
 
 Ferapont. That's what documents are for, to be 
 signed. 
 
 [Retires to back of stage. Enter Irina, with Tuzen- 
 bach in a straw hat; Kuligin walks across the stage, 
 shouting, "Co-ee, Masha, со-ееГ] 
 
 Tuzenbach. He seems to be the only man in the 
 town who is glad that the soldiers are going. 
 
 Irina. One can understand that. [Pause] The town 
 will be empty. 
 
 Tuzenbach. My dear, I shall return soon, 
 
 Irina. Where are you going? 
 
 Tuzenbach. I must go into the town and then 
 ... see the others off. 
 
 Irina. It's not true . . . Nikolai, why are you so 
 absent-minded to-day? [Pause] What happened near the 
 theatre yesterday? 
 
 Tuzenbach [making an impatient gesture] In an 
 hour I shall return and be with you again. [Kisses her 
 hands] My darling . . . [Looking her closely in the 
 face] It's five years now since I fell in love with you, 
 and still I can't get used to it, and you seem to me to 
 grow more and more beautiful. What lovely, wonderful 
 hair! What eyes! I'm going to take you away to- 
 morrow. We shall work, we shall be rich, my dreams 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 79 
 
 will come true. You will be happy. There's only one 
 thing, one thing only: you don't love me! 
 
 Irina. It isn't in my power! I shall be your wife, 
 I shall be true to you, and obedient, but I can't love you. 
 What can I do! [Cries] I have never been in love in 
 my life. Oh, I used to think so much of love. I have 
 been thinking about it for so long, day and night, but 
 my soul is like a costly piano which is locked and the 
 key lost. [Pause] You seem so unhappy. 
 
 Tuzenbach. I didn't sleep all night. There is 
 nothing in my life so awful as to frighten me, only that 
 lost key torments my soul and won't let me sleep. Say 
 something to me. [Pause] Say something to me* . . . 
 
 Irina. What can I say, what? 
 
 Tuzenbach. Anything. 
 
 Irina. Don't! Don't! [Pause] 
 
 Tuzenbach. It is curious how silly trivial little 
 things, sometimes for no apparent reason, seem to matter 
 suddenly. At first you laugh at them, you think they 
 are of no importance, you go on and you feel that you 
 have not the strength to control yourself. Oh don't 
 let's talk about it ! I am happy. It is as if for the first 
 time in my life I see these firs, maples, beeches, and they 
 all look at me inquisitively and wait. What beautiful 
 trees and when you come to think of it, how beautiful 
 life must be near them! [A shout of "co-eel" in the 
 distance] It's time I went . . . There's a tree which 
 has dried up but it still sways in the breeze with the 
 others. And so it seems to me that if I die, I shall still 
 take part in life one way or another. Good-bye, dear 
 
8o THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 . . . [Kisses her hands] The papers which you gave 
 me are on my table under the calendar. 
 
 Irina. I am coming with you. 
 
 Tuzenbach [nervously] No, no! [He goes quickly 
 and stops in the avenue] Irina! 
 
 Irina. What is it? 
 
 Tuzenbach [not knowing what to say] I haven't 
 had any coffee to-day. Tell them to make me some . . . 
 
 [He goes out quickly. Irina stands deep in thought. 
 Then she goes to the back of the stage and sits on a 
 swing. Andrei comes in with the perambulator and 
 Ferapont also appears] 
 
 Ferapont. Andrei Sergeievitch, it isn't as if the docu- 
 ments were mine, they are the government's. I didn't 
 make them. 
 
 Andrei. Oh, what has become of my past and where 
 is it? I used to be young, happy, clever, I used to be 
 able to think and frame clever ideas, the present and 
 the future seemed to me full of hope. Why do we, 
 almost before we have begun to live, become dull, gray, 
 uninteresting, lazy, apathetic, useless, unhappy? . . . 
 This town has already been in existence for two hundred 
 years and it has a hundred thousand inhabitants, not 
 one of whom is in any way different from the others. 
 There has never been, now or at any other time, a single 
 leader of men, a single scholar, an artist, a man of even 
 the slightest eminence who might arouse envy or a 
 passionate desire to be emulated. They only eat, drink, 
 sleep, and then they die . . . more people are born and 
 also eat, drink, sleep, and so as not to become half-witted 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 81 
 
 out of sheer boredom, they try to make life many-sided 
 with their beastly back-biting, vodka, cards, and litiga- 
 tion. The wives deceive their husbands, and the hus- 
 bands lie, and pretend they see nothing and hear nothing, 
 and the evil influence irresistibly oppresses the children 
 and the divine spark in them is extinguished, and they 
 become just as pitiful corpses and just as much like one 
 another as their fathers and mothers ... [Angrily to 
 Ferapont] What do you want? 
 
 Ferapont. What? Documents want signing. 
 
 Andrei. I'm tired of you. 
 
 Ferapont [handing him papers'] The hall-porter from 
 the law courts said just now that in the winter there 
 were two hundred degrees of frost in Petersburg. 
 
 Andrei. The present is beastly, but when I think 
 of the future, how good it is! I feel so light, so free; 
 there is a light in the distance, I see freedom. I see 
 myself and my children freeing ourselves from vanities, 
 from kvass, from goose baked with cabbage, from after- 
 dinner naps, from base idleness . . . 
 
 Ferapont. He said that two thousand people were 
 frozen to death. The people were frightened, he said. 
 In Petersburg or Moscow, I don't remember where. 
 
 Andrei [overcome by a tender emotion] My dear sis- 
 ters, my beautiful sisters! [Crying] Masha, my sis- 
 ter. . . . 
 
 Natasha [at the window'] Who's talking so loudly 
 out there? Is that you, Andrei? You'll wake little 
 Sophie. // ne faut pas faire du bruit, Sophie dort deja. 
 Vous etes un ours. [Angrily] If you want to talk, then 
 
8a THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 give the perambulator and the baby to somebody else. 
 Ferapont, take the perambulator! 
 
 Ferapont. Yes'm. [Takes the perambulator] 
 
 Andrei [confused] Fm speaking quietly. 
 
 Natasha [at the window, nursing her boy] Bobby! 
 Naughty Bobby! Bad little Bobby! 
 
 Andrei [looking through the papers] All right, Fll 
 look them over and sign if necessary, and you can take 
 them back to the office. . . . [Goes into house reading 
 papers; Ferapont takes the perambulator to the back of 
 the garden] 
 
 Natasha [at the window] Bobby, what's your 
 mother's name? Dear, dear! And who's this? That's 
 Aunt Olga. Say to your aunt, "How do you do, Olga!" 
 
 [Two wandering musicians, a man and a girl, are 
 playing on a violin and a harp. Vershinin, Olga, and 
 Anfisa come out of the house and listen for a minute in 
 silence; Irina walks up to them] 
 
 Olga. Our garden might be a public thoroughfare, 
 from the way people walk and ride across it. Nurse, 
 give something to those musicians! 
 
 Anfisa [gives money to the musicians] Go away with 
 God's blessing! [The musicians bow and go away] A 
 bitter sort of people. You don't play on a full stomach. 
 [To Irina] How do you do, Irisha! [Kisses her] Well, 
 little girl, here I am, still alive! Still alive! In the 
 High School, together with little Olga, in her official 
 apartments ... so the Lord has appointed for my old 
 age. Sinful woman that I am, Fve never lived like that 
 in my life before ... A large flat, government prop- 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 83 
 
 erty, and Гѵе a whole room and bed to myself. All 
 government property. I wake up at night and, oh God, 
 and Holy Mother, there isn't a happier person than I ! 
 
 Vershinin [looks at his match'] We are going soon, 
 Olga Sergeievna. It's time for me to go. [Pause] I wish 
 you all happiness — all happiness . . . Where's Maria 
 Sergeievna ? 
 
 Irina. She's somewhere in the garden. I'll go and 
 look for her. 
 
 Vershinin. If you'll be so kind. I haven't time. 
 
 Anfisa. I'll go and look, too. [Shouts] Little Masha, 
 co-ee! [Goes out with Irina down into the garden] 
 Co-ee, co-ee! 
 
 Vershinin. Everything comes to an end. And so 
 we, too, must part. [Looks at his watch] The town 
 gave us a sort ef farewell breakfast, we had champagne 
 to drink and the mayor made a speech, and I ate and 
 listened, but my soul was here all the time . . . [Looks 
 round the garden] I have grown so used to you now. 
 
 Olga. Shall we ever meet again? 
 
 Vershinin. Probably not. [Pause] My wife and 
 both my daughters will stay here another two months. 
 If anything happens, or if anything has to be done . . . 
 
 Olga. Yes, yes, of course. You need not worry. 
 [Pause] To-morrow there won't be a single soldier left 
 in the town, it will all be a memory, and, of course, 
 for us a new life will begin . . . [Pause] None of our 
 plans are coming right. I didn't wish to be a head- 
 mistress, but they made me one, all the same. It means 
 there's no chance to go to Moscow . . . 
 
84 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 Vershinin. Well . . . thank you for everything. 
 Forgive me if Гѵе . . . Гѵе said such an awful lot — 
 forgive me for that, too, don't think badly of me. 
 
 Olga [wipes her eyes] Why isn't Masha coming? . . . 
 
 Vershinin. What else can I say in parting? Can 
 I philosophize about anything? [Laughs] Life is heavy. 
 To many of us it seems dull and hopeless, but still, it 
 must be acknowledged that it is getting lighter and 
 clearer, and it seems that the time is not far off when 
 it will be quite clear. [Looks at his watch] It's time I 
 went! Mankind used to be absorbed in wars, and all 
 its existence was filled with campaigns, attacks, defeats. 
 Now weVe outlived all that, leaving after us a great 
 waste, which we cannot fill at present; but mankind is 
 looking for something, and will certainly find it. Oh, 
 if it only happened more quickly. [Pause] If only edu- 
 cation could be added to industry, and industry to 
 education. [Looks at his watch] It's time I went . . . 
 
 Olga. Here she comes. 
 
 [Enter Masha] 
 
 Vershinin. I came to say good-by. . . . 
 
 [Olga steps aside a little, so as not to be in their 
 way] 
 
 Masha [looking him in the face] Good-bye . • . 
 [She gives him a lingering kiss] 
 
 Olga. Enough! Enough! [Masha breaks into 
 tears] 
 
 Vershinin. Write to me . . . Don't forget ! Let 
 me go . . . it's time. Take her away, Olga Sergeievna 
 it's time . . . I'm late . . . 
 
 • . 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 85 
 
 [He kisses Olgas hand in evident emotion, then em- 
 braces Masha once more and goes out quickly] 
 
 Olga. Don't, Masha! Stop, dear . . . [Kuligin 
 enters] 
 
 Kuligin [confused] Never mind, let her cry, let her 
 . . . My dear Masha, my good Masha . . . You're my 
 wife, and Гт happy, whatever happens . . . Гт not 
 complaining, I don't reproach you at all . . . Olga is a 
 witness to it . . . Let's begin to live again as we used 
 to, and not by a single word, or hint . . . 
 
 Masha [restraining her sobs] 
 
 "A green oak stands by the sea, 
 
 A chain of gold around it . . . 
 
 A chain of gold around it . . . 
 
 Гт going out of my head . . . "a green oak stands . . . 
 
 by the sea" . . . 
 
 Olga. Be quiet, Masha, be quiet! . . . give her 
 some water . . . 
 
 Masha. I'm not crying any more. 
 
 Kuligin. She's not crying any more • . . she's 
 kindly . . . 
 
 [A shot is heard from a far distance] 
 
 Masha. "A green oak stands by the sea, 
 A chain of gold around it . . . 
 A green cat — a green oak — 
 Гт mixing it up . . . [Drinks some water] Life is dull 
 • . . There's nothing more now that I desire ... I'll 
 be all right in a moment ... It doesn't matter . . . 
 What do these lines mean? Why do they run in my 
 head? My thoughts are all tangled. 
 
86 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 [Irina enters'] 
 
 Olga. Be quiet, Masha. There's a good girl . . • 
 Let's go in. 
 
 Masha [angrily] I shan't go in there. [Sobs, but con- 
 trols herself at once] I'm not going into the house, I 
 won't . . . 
 
 Irina. Let's sit here together and say nothing. I'm 
 going away to-morrow . . . [Pause] 
 
 Kuligin. Yesterday I took these whiskers and this 
 beard from a boy in the third class . . . [He puts on 
 the whiskers and beard] Don't I look like the German 
 master? . . . [Laughs] Don't I? The boys are amus- 
 ing. 
 
 Masha. You really do look like that German of 
 yours. 
 
 Olga [laughs] Yes. [Masha weeps] 
 
 Irina. Don't, Masha! 
 
 Kuligin. It's a very good likeness . . . 
 
 [Enter Natasha] 
 
 Natasha [to the maid] What? Mikhail Ivanitch 
 Protopopoff will sit with little Sophie, and Andrei 
 Sergeievitch can take little Bobby out. Children are such 
 a bother ... [To Irina] Irina, it's such a pity you're 
 going away to-morrow. Do remain another week. [Sees 
 Kuligin and screams; he laughs and takes off his beard 
 and whiskers] How you frightened me! [To Irina] 
 I've grown used to you and do you think it will be easy 
 for me to part from you. I'm going to have Andrei 
 and his violin put into your room — let him fiddle away 
 in there ! — and we'll put little Sophie into his room. 
 
THE THREE SISTERS 87 
 
 The beautiful, lovely child! What a little girlie! To- 
 day she looked at me with such pretty eyes and said 
 "Mamma!" 
 
 Kuligin. A beautiful child, it's quite true. 
 
 Natasha. That means I shall have the place to my- 
 self to-morrow. [Sighs'] In the first place I shall have 
 that avenue of fir-trees cut down, then the maples. It's 
 so ugly at night ... [Го Irina] That belt doesn't suit 
 you at all, dear . . . It's an error of taste. And I'll give 
 orders to have lots and lots of little flowers planted here, 
 and they'll smell sweet . . . Why «is that fork lying here 
 on the seat? [Going towards the house, to the maid] 
 Why is that fork lying on the seat, I say? [Shouts] 
 Don't you dare answer me ! 
 
 Kuligin. Temper ! temper ! 
 
 [A march is played off; they all listen] 
 
 Olga. They're going. 
 
 [T chebutikin comes in] 
 
 Masha. They're going. Well, well . . . Bon voy- 
 age! [To her husband] We must go home . . . 
 Where's my coat and hat? 
 
 Kuligin. I took them in . . . I'll bring them, in a 
 moment. 
 
 Olga. Yes, now we can all go home. It's time. 
 
 Tchebutikin. Olga Sergeievna! 
 
 Olga. What is it? [Pause] What is it? 
 
 Tchebutikin. Nothing ... I don't know how to 
 tell you . . . [Whispers to her] 
 
 Olga [frightened] It can't be true! 
 
 Tchebutikin. Yes . . . such a story . . . I'm 
 
88 THE THREE SISTERS 
 
 tired, exhausted, I won't say any more . . . [Sadly] 
 Still, it's all the same! 
 
 Masha. What's happened? 
 
 Olga [embraces Irina] This is a terrible day ... I 
 don't know how to tell you, dear . . , 
 
 Irina. What is it? Tell me quickly, what is it? 
 For God's sake! [Cries'] 
 
 Tchebutikin. The Baron was killed in the duel 
 just now. 
 
 Irina [cries softly] I knew it, I knew it . . . 
 
 Tchebutikin [sits on a bench at the back of the 
 stage] I'm tired . . . [Takes a paper from his 
 pocket] Let 'em cry . . . [Sings softly] "Tarara-boom- 
 deay . . ." Isn't it all the same! 
 
 [The three sisters are standing, pressing against one 
 another] 
 
 Masha. Oh, how the music plays! They are leav- 
 ing us, one has quite left us, quite and for ever. We 
 remain alone, to begin our life over again. We must 
 live ... we must live . . . 
 
 Irina [puts her head on Olga's breast] There will 
 come a time when everybody will know the reason for 
 all this suffering, and there will be no more mysteries. 
 But we must live ... we must work, just work! To- 
 morrow I'll go away alone, and I'll teach and give my 
 whole life to those who, perhaps, need it. It's autumn 
 now, soon it will be winter, the snow will cover every- 
 thing, and I shall be working, working. . . . 
 
 Olga [embraces both her sisters] The bands are play- 
 ing so gayly, so bravely, and one does so want to live! 
 
> 
 
 THE THREE SISTERS 89 
 
 Oh, my God! Time will pass and we shall forever be 
 «dead; they will forget our faces, voices, and even how 
 many there were of us, but our sufferings will turn into 
 joy for those who will live after us, happiness and peace 
 will reign on earth, and people will remember with a 
 good word and bless those who live now. Oh dear sis- 
 ters, our life is not yet at an end. Let us live. The 
 music is so gay, so joyful, and, it seems that in a little 
 while we shall know why we are living, why we are 
 suffering ... If only we knew! if only we knew! 
 
 [The music has been growing softer and softer; 
 Kuliginj smiling happily, brings out the hat and coat; 
 Andrei wheels out the perambulator in which Bobby У 
 sitting] 
 
 Tchebutikin [sings softly] "Тага . . . ra-boom- 
 deay . . . [Reads a paper] It's all the same! It's all 
 the same! 
 
 Olga. If only we knew! If only we knew! 
 
 CURTAIN 
 
 ШШЯШШЯШШ 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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 F. Ray Comstock and Morris Gest 
 
 Present 
 
 BALIEFFS CHAUVE-SOURIS 
 
 Century Roof Theatre 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 002 332 657 7