Manchester, 20 July 1854 

Dear Marx, 

To judge by your total silence you must either be hard at work 
or making tremendous e£rrorts to raise money. En attendant’ 1 
would inform you that, after the brother of Dronke’s principal” 
has been to Bradford, Dronke will be in a position to shell out 
some money—just how much, it is impossible to say, but about £3 
or £4. The brother arrives this week, so you should be able to rely 
on it in, say, 3 weeks’ time. 

Naut has been in London, here and in. Bradford and, until he 
ran into Dronke in the street, had kept out of everyone’s way. 
Dronke says he is hellish slack; apparently he—Naut—only saw 
Daniels once or twice in the street and doesn’t even know whether 
he’s living in Cologne or out in the country. Burgers and a 
tailor—who, he was unable to say—are in Glatz and said to be 
quite well, and Becker is in Weichselmiinde.*™ Otherwise all Naut 
could find to say was that it would be fine if in Prussia they could 
have a constitution like the one in England. 

Dronke, by the way, has got himself into a serious scrape, so 
that the money may not be forthcoming after all. For when he was 
here 4 or 6 weeks ago he got drunk and, at one o'clock in the 
morning or thereabouts, made a grab at a female in the street; 
she, a married, middle-class woman, boxed his ears, whereupon he 
KNOCKED her pown. True, Dronke’s own version of the story is 
slightly different, but that is what seems to have happened. The 
husband arrived on the scene and went to fetch the police, who 
didn’t want to get mixed up in it. The business was protracted by 
Dronke’s spurious excuses and now he has finally received an 
Attorney’S letter demanding an apology AND compensation, failing 
which the roreicner is to be made an example of. Since Buckup’s 
brother is just due to come, you can imagine the situation. We 
shall try and reach an accommodation, but it will probably cost 
money. Keep the matter under your hat, by the way, otherwise I'll have 
instant trouble with the little man, since Imandt will promptly 

a Meanwhile - > Buckup 

write to him about it; in general, by no means everything I write 
to you is intended for the crew at large. 

In other ways it suits me very well that the swank and swagger 
of the Heise-Dronke-Imandt trio should come to an inglorious 
end, for otherwise one would get no respite from these people 
with their rumbustious drunken contentiousness. Heise, at any 
rate, has his serrier in the shape of a crooked finger which he will 
probably retain for the rest of his days, and Dronke, too, has 
doubtless had enough. 

So NO MORE FROM YOUR AFFECTIONATE 

F. E.