London, 25 September 1892 

Dear Victor, 

Your business with Stepnyak 57? has been settled, as indeed it had 
been before your telegram and two letters got here. For Stepnyak * 
sent me your letter of the 15th with the comment that he had now ob- 
tained Sonnenschein’s formal consent and would be coming tomor- 
row (i.e. last Thursday, the 22nd) to exchange this document for the 
£15 sterling credited to me. Although not previously advised by you, 
I am far too good a business man not to honour the signature of so 
reputable a firm as V. Adler, even if not as yet actually in receipt of 
a formal advice. For you had held a pistol, not only to Stepnyak’s 
head, but also in some measure to my own; otherwise had there been 
any other way out, I should for your sake have tried to avoid making 
any payment just now. And this merely on the grounds that you have 
now paid Stepnyak all that he is entitled to; but, as it is, his interest 
in seeing your translation published will no longer be of a pecuniary 
but merely of a literary nature and, if I know my Russians, that is 
not, I should say, the right way to get the stuff for the second volume 
out of him. However, there was nothing further I could do. I might 
have asked him to give me a written undertaking to the effect that he 
would deliver the goods within a given period, but it would have 
been worse than useless since you already have enough from him in 
writing in any case, and another scrap of paper would not have in- 
duced him to work any faster. 

So I must content myself with his promise, made in Louise’s pres- 
ence, to let you have the goods in question within 2 weeks at the out- 
side (va-t-en voir s’tls viennent,* Jean) and with having paid him, 
against the enclosed note and Sonnenschein’s perfectly adequate dec- 
laration, the £15 sterling you had promised him and told him to 
claim from me. You wrote: 

* after Louise, at your behest, had requested him to attend to the matter 

* go and see if they are coming 

“YOU GAN ALSO HAND THE FORMAL PAPER TO MR ENGELS, AND YOU WILL RECEIVE IM- 
MEDIATELY FROM HIM THE SUM OF 15 POUNDS.’ 
So you see, the categorical wording left me no other alternative.* 

I also took occasion to explain to Stepnyak that, by dawdling as he 
has done, he had cheated himself and that, had he behaved ration- 
ally, S. Sonnenschein & Co. might well have been content with £5 
STERLING if not less, which would have meant more for him, Stepnyak, 
to pocket. (Aveling maintains that S. Sonnenschein & Co. would in 
fact have given their permission gratis, the translation being in any 
case a good advertisement for the book.) None of this had occurred to 
him and he will no doubt take note of it. But it’s you who have come 
off worst. 

Summa summarum: should such a case arise in future, you would do 
well to inform me beforehand, in which case I could either give you 
my humble opinion or else I could at once enter into negotiations 
over here on your behalf, whether direct or through Louise or the Ave- 
lings. In the literary business ‘local knowledge’ is absolutely essential 
if you don’t want to get stung. 

We are glad to hear how much better your wife* is and hope the 
improvement will continue. Our thoughts are always with you. 

We have seen nothing of Andreas Scheu for years, heard nothing of 
him for months and had no converse about him here for ages and 
ages. We know absolutely nothing about him. There’s no need for 
you to worry about Uncle Julius and Aunt’—now that they syste- 
matically cut themselves off from us we scarcely ever see them, let 
alone tell them anything. 

The story about Hyndman ought not to have been printed.°’? It 
was uncorroborated, confidential information and may, formally 
speaking, contain inaccuracies. Jn essence it is correct; Hyndman has 
been deposed, though in as considerate a fashion as possible. The 
mere threat of such a motion supported by a majority of the delegates 
may have sufficed. The worst of it is that we can’t reply to the dé- 
menti without placing him in a more favourable position. Indeed 

* You are wrong in saying that you had demanded the surrender of his stuff ‘prior to 
payment’. I wish the wording had been such as to allow me to make that demand. But 
you made payment, and ‘IMMEDIATELY’ at that, solely dependent on Sonnenschcin’s 
FORMAL PAPER. 

* Emma Adler-? Julius Motteler and his wife Emilie 

there’s something of his in Justice expressing the expectation that the 
Vorwérts wort publish his letter.°’* Now he has made an ass of him- 
self. 

You will be getting two copies of Soziales aus Rußland.* Of The Ba- 
‘kuninists at Work 1 have so far been able to find only one copy (bound 
up with other stuff), namely my handwritten one. I have perforce 
had to desist from lending things for propaganda purposes, and 
would advise you to do the same. Never again shall I allow the tools 
of my trade to leave the house. 

My health ‘continues slowly to improve’. Louise says you had 
asked how long this business had been going on -— it manifested itself 
some ten years ago as a result of over-indulgence. The trouble origi- 
nated some 25 years since when I came down with my horse while 
riding to hounds. For your further information only a few years after 
the thing had declared itself, I was forced by disagreeable sensations 
in the inguinal canal to wear a bandage with hernial pads and there 
would also seem to be a slight varice” in that region, on the left hand 
side. During the past few days I believe I have taken a distinct turn 
for the better although there is still some sensitivity to pressure, par- 
ticularly after any time spent standing or walking; at all events I shall 
have to be patient and go on resting for a while longer. Louise said 
you were going to do me the kindness of inquiring about a specialist 
over here; I should be most grateful, the more so since every...‘