KARL MARX

326 KARL MARX: A BIOGRAPHY
choice again he would not have married. 'As far as it is in my power, I
intend to save my daughter from the rocks on which her mother's life
has been wrecked.' 235 He finished by insisting on economic guarantees
for Lafargue's future as 'observation has convinced me that you are not
by nature very diligent, for all your bouts of feverish activity and good
will'. 236 Jenny, too, was rather dubious of French medical students but
Lafargue must have been able to allay their fears for the engagement was
announced in September 1866 on Laura's twenty-first birthday. Jenny
Marx became enthusiastic: his parents had promised Paul around £4,000
on marriage and she admired his 'fine character, his kindheartedness,
generosity and his devotion to Laura'. 237 Particularly fortunate was the
fact that Paul and Laura shared the same views on religion. Bitterly
remembering her own courtship, she wrote: 'thus Laura will be spared
the inevitable conflicts and sufferings to which any girl with her opinions
is exposed in society. For how rare it is nowadays to find a man who
shares such views and at the same time has culture and a social position.' 238
The friendship between the families was cemented by the visit of all the
Marx daughters to Bordeaux for three weeks.
Jenny, in particular, was keen on the civil marriage taking place as
privately as possible to avoid the neighbours' gossiping, and Engels obligingly
suggested that the reason given for it should be that Laura was a
Protestant and Paul a Catholic. 239 The publication of the banns was put
off until the last possible moment as Jenny was not in a position to
prepare Laura's trousseau, and Marx did not want 'to send her into the
world like a beggar'. 240 Jenny was still preparing an extensive wardrobe
for Laura four months after her marriage. This took place on 2 April
1868 in St Pancras' Registry Office and was followed by lunch at Modena
Villas where Engels cracked so many jokes at Laura's expense that he
reduced her to tears. 241 The couple honeymooned in Paris and returned
to London where Paul completed his medical studies.
Meanwhile, her sister, too, began to establish her independence. Without
asking her parents' permission, Jenny took a job as a governess five
mornings a week to the children of a near-by doctor named Monroe.
Marx, in fact, disapproved strongly and only agreed after insisting on
stringent conditions. Jenny enjoyed her job, in spite of the difficulty she
experienced in actually getting her employers to pay her, and it lasted
almost three years until the Monroes made 'the terrible discovery that I
am the daughter of the petroleur chief who defended the iniquitous
communal movements'. 242 She began, too, to write articles on Ireland for
French newspapers, being, like Eleanor, passionately attached to the cause
of Home Rule. Marx confessed to Engels that he was glad at least 'that
Jenny is distracted by something to do and particularly got outside the