MARX TO JENNY MARX” 

{[London,] 17 September 1878 

Dear Jenny, 

As arranged on my departure,*” herewith Post Orrice Orver for 
£3. If, in view of the change in circumstances, it shouldn’t be 
enough, let me know immediately. 

After my return I suffered from a very severe headache; 
however, that has got better since I received a reassuring letter 
about Johnny from dear Jennychen; and your good news 
today —still continuing, I trust—was balm to me. 

I shall not say very much about the goings-on at No. 122 
Regent’s Park Road, since Tussy is your REGULAR CHRONICLER in that 
sphere and I mustn’t skim off the cream. But I can’t resist telling 
you about one episode which, in its originality, is reminiscent at 
one and the same time of Balzac and Paul de Kock. When Tussy, 
Mrs Renshaw and Pumps (she has now been xnicuTep; Engels will 
be calling her Pumpsia from now on) were sorting out the dead 
woman’s odds and ends, Mrs Renshaw found, amongst other 
things, a small packet of letters (about eight, six of which were 
from members of the Marx Family, two from Williams— Ramsgate) 
and made as if to hand them to Mr Chitty, who was present at the 
operation. * ‘No,’ said he, ‘burn them! I need not see her letters. I know 
she was unable to deceive me.’** Could Figaro (I mean the real one of 
Beaumarchais) have trouvé cela*? As Mrs Renshaw remarked later 
to Tussy: *‘Of course, as he had to write her letters, and to read 
to her the letters she received, he might feel quite sure that these 
letters contained no secrets for him—but they might do so, for 
her.’ * 

Together with this letter I am today sending you The Daily News 
and The Standard, on account of the telegrams about the German 
Reichstag.*”! Bebel was EVIDENTLY THE ONLY SPEAKER IMPOSING"; the 
government spokesmen—Stolberg and Eulenburg—deplorable 
beyond words; Bamberger true to his motto ‘We are but dogs!’ *”; 

2 thought that up (an allusion to Figaro’s words from Beaumarchais’ La folle 
journée, ou le mariage de Figaro, Act V, Scene 8: ‘Ah, Figaro, pends-toi; tu n’as pas 
deviné celui-la!’) 

Reichensperger—the Rhenish bourgeois under the thumb of the 
Catholic Party of the Centre.*” Even lickspittle Reuter doesn’t 
think this first performance much of a success! 

I hope that you and Jennychen will get a little better during this 
week; keep on going for drives, ensemble,* winp, WEATHER AND THE 
HEALTH OF THE CHILD? PERMITTING; should this not be possible for once, 
you yourself should never miss a drive; but I hope the little lad wit 
BE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE and hence, too, his sorely tried mama. Best 
wishes to Jennychen and a kiss for Johnny. 

Adio. 
Your 
Moor