Eastbourne, 13 August 1887 
4 Cavendish Place 
Dear Bebel, 

Tomorrow or the day after you will be released from prison™ and I, 
for my part, hope to realise a plan which I have had in mind ever since 
you took up lodgings with the King of Saxony. Namely, to invite you to 

@ Lydia Burns 

make a short trip to London at my expense to help you recover from the 
wear and tear of martyrdom. But you must do me the favour of accept- 
ing my proposal in its entirely, especially as regards it’s being at my 
expense, for my conscience would not allow me to impose upon you any 
sacrifices, however small, in this connection. A holiday of this kind 
would seem to me absolutely essential to your health; you would at long 
last be able to breathe the air of liberty again, for over here the air is as 
free as it ever can be in a capitalist society. An abrupt transition from the 
narrow confines of Zwickau prison to the wider ones of the prison that 
is Germany would be altogether too hard. But I can think of nothing 
that is of more vital concern to the party now than your state of health, 
and therefore beg you to allow me to make my contribution to the party 
in the shape that seems to me most fitting. 

I shall be here for the next fortnight, i.e. shall return to London on the 
27th inst.!°8 I imagine it will take you roughly the same amount of time to 
put various matters in order, and I myself am unable to go back to town 
before then because my house is being refurbished from attic to cellar and 
everything is at sixes and sevens. But if you can come over any earlier and 
spend a few days with us here at the seaside, so much the better and the 
sooner the better. You can take the night boat from Flushing and travel to 
Victoria Station in London; the trains for Eastbourne leave from the same 
station and will get you here in 2 or 2% hours. Kautsky, who returns to 
town from Ventnor on Monday (address 35 Lady Somerset Road, High- 
gate, London, N. W.), will gladly pilot you around London. Liebknecht, 
who also paid us a visit last year, was enthusiastic about the locality. 

So I eagerly await your answer and, provided this is in the affirmative 
and you are not coming straight away, shall send you an advance remit- 
tance and thus make even more sure of you. 

All other discussions have best be left until we meet. So much has 
happened which you are better qualified than anyone else to explain to 
me. On the whole I am satisfied with the course the world has taken 
since you went into isolation; things are going ahead everywhere. 

Now I must close, for down here the post goes at 1.15 p.m. and if I 
miss it my letter won’t leave London until Monday morning. I am 
addressing it for safety’s sake to your wife, to whom, as to your daugh- 
ter,* kindly give my warmest regards. 

Your old friend 
FE. 

4 Julie and Frieda Bebel 

In case you should have to look up Kautsky in London, herewith a 
more detailed address: 

35 Lady Somerset Road, Highgate, near Kentish Town Station, 
Kentish Town Road. No need to put this on letters.