Love and my sisters

You'd better believe that love is a frequent topic of conversation among four girls, who at this minute are ages 13, 14, 17 and 18. As I said before, there's talk of Olga marrying. But she doesn't want to marry a foreign prince because she doesn't want to leave Russia. But that doesn't mean she doesn't have her romances.

First of all, we're surrounded by the elite guards of the empire, the Composites, who are representatives of the principal regiments: The Semyonovsky, the Preobrezhansky, the Ismaelovsky, plus the Cossacks. Wherever we go, they go. And there are officers always more than willing to dance and listen to music.

Mashka already has a huge crush on a guard. She made him a shirt! If that doesn't speak of love, I don't know what does. And Tatiana—well, there are many, many young guards who are in love with her, but she stays aloof. I'm not sure what she's waiting for. Olga told us once that she had a real kiss, in the garden, with someone from the Preobrezhansky regiment. I remember him: he used to come often to the soirees that Anya would have for us, with musicians. I loved the balalaika orchestra.

As for me—because I'm still in short skirts, they don't really think of me that way. But I sometimes find myself dreaming of a pair of kind eyes staring into mine. And I love to dance as much as anyone! Here is a little film of us dancing on the Standart last June. You can see that I am just as good as my sisters, and I like to think I have even a little more spirit: