London, 11 March 1873 
122 Regent’s Park Road, N.W. 

Dear Mrs Liebknecht, 

Would you be so kind as to hand the enclosed letter to 
Liebknecht* on your next visit to the Castle? ** Up to now I have 
sent most letters for him to the office of the Volksstaat, because I 
did not know whether you still lived at 11 Braustrasse. Your 
enforced grass-widowhood must be increasingly burdensome to 
you as time passes. You really have a lot to put up with! At all 
events, however, you are still able to visit Liebknecht regularly, 
and if you do not think it too impertinent of me I would ask you 
to tell me how he is physically, what the treatment is like, whether 
he is limited to the resources of the Castle for food and drink, or 
whether he can supplement this from outside, and in general 
everything pertaining to his situation and Bebel’s—he himself 

a See this volume, p. 486. 

17* 

writes very little about such matters, indeed recently he has 
stopped commenting on them altogether, and you will appreciate 
that all this interests us very much. Not only for the prisoners’ own 
sake—our interest is also a little egoistic, since this is something 
that might happen to us too, one day, and we would like to know 
what we might have to expect. What is the position with regard to 
books? Can he have everything he needs—at least as far as 
scholarly and literary works are concerned—or is the censorship 
strict? I know of course that the pigeon-post, or THE UNDERGROUND 
RAILWAY as they say in America, is easily organised. 

I hope that you are in good spirits and that you and the 
children are in good health. Ir ts A LONG LANE THAT HAS NO TURNING, aS 
the English proverb has it, and the rurninc cannot be very far away 
any more. And you may be sure that, however things turn out, 
you have friends here in London who take the warmest interest in 
Liebknecht’s and your fate. 

If any of the children should remember me, which I very much 
doubt, since I did not live in London at the time,°” please give 
them my very kindest regards. 

With sincere good wishes, 

Yours truly, 
Friedrich Engels