London, 21 October 1882 

My dear Laura, 

The day before yesterday we received from Paul? the two first nos 
of the transplanted Citoyen.« From the Justice we had already seen 
what a Coup de Jarnac?%° the noble-hearted Prospére* had tried 
to give the Parti ouvrier*; from the above two Citoyens we saw 
that le coup avait manqué et‘ from the stupid shot in the Citoyen et 
Bataille against ‘le léche* Paul Lafargue’ we saw that Prospére /e sa- 

* Saturday in the ms.-” Lafargue-° See this volume, pp. 346-47 and 370.-% Lis- 
sagaray-° Workers’ Party-' the coup had failed and- the cowardly 

vait parfaitment,* and was reduced to unmask himself as what he really 
is, a Cassagnacquian spadassin. *°° Of course Paul will not have been 
such a fool as to donner dans ce panneau.” 

Now for two days there have not arrived either Citoyen, or Citoyen et 
Bataille, and today even La Justice is not to hand. We are therefore 
quite at sea. Has the Citoyen been stopped for want of funds after two 
nos, or has it merely been owing to the génie éminemment organisateur des 
frangais‘ that we have not received it? You know, in a crisis like this 
we ought to be regularly supplied with that information which 
we cannot obtain here. I have written a long letter to Bernstein 
yesterday“ about both Malon-Brousse and this last affair; but every 
day something may happen in Paris about which it would be impor- 
tant to communicate at once to Bernstein the correct version. How 
can I do so without materials? Is it really impossible for the Parisian 
friends to do those things which are the most important to their own 
interests? 

I heard from Mohr today that you have written to him and that 
Jenny is better. Mohr is very well on the whole, Donkin who exam- 
ined him was almost surprised at the great improvement he found 
(barring the unavoidable remnants of the two later pleurisies); he 
thinks he can pass the winter on the English South Coast. He will 
have to go soon, we have a perfectly beastly wet day to-day — but 
warm — and when other people have fine weather we begin to have 
fogs. 

I wish you could first pop in some Sunday evening and see the 
change. Mohr of course cannot go out at nights, so there is nobody 
but the Pumpses and now and then Helen.* The ‘crimm’ has entirely 
disappeared. The other day the great Loria called again. That eve- 
ning Jollymeier happened to be here, and as we were all a little bit 
on, poor Loria had to undergo some chaffing, he asked Helen had she 
also studied political economy and told us he had tasted Moselle wine 
in Berlin but it tasted like sugar and water. Well, you can imagine the 
explosions. I appreciate, the poor pedant has enough of our ‘sarcastic’ 
company. Imagine he would not believe that you and Tussy were sis- 
ters and stared when he heard who your father was. 

Today Signor Alessandro Oldrini called at Mohr’s while I was 
there, but with a consistency of which I was very glad, he was not 

* was perfectly informed-> get into this trap-‘ Frenchmen’s exceptional gift for 
organising -? See previous letter.-° Demuth 

received. If Mohr had seen him, God knows how many Zanardellis 
would have followed. 

The Pumpses are getting on very well, they have been a fortnight 
or so in their new house, but it is not yet quite furnished — for want of 
cash. The baby* has had an abscess on the chest but is getting better. 
Charley and Miss Bevan have been married three weeks, I have not 
yet seen them since the happy despatch. 

Now it is getting on fast for post-time and as I want you to have 
this letter tomorrow morning I must conclude. Kind regards to Paul 
and if you see them, Guesde and Mesa. 

Yours affectionately, 

F. E.