After a moment she turned and shrugged her shoulders. "He is much worse and there is nothing I can do. Another night like this and he will die here."
"That must not be allowed," said her father quickly.
She gave him a sullen look. "What does it matter? He is an Englishman."
As she was speaking in German Freddie could not understand what she said but he sensed the gist of her remarks and her hostility.
The Prussian aristocrat's voice was terrifyingly stern as he replied: "Speak only of what you understand, girl. This man risked his life in an attempt to bring about peace and enable us to create a free and better Germany. He is our guest and no effort must be spared or risk remain un run which will aid his recovery. Go now and send Hans Foldar to me immediately."
"Yes, Father." Magda murmured with sudden meekness, and wrapping her shawls about her she hurried away to do his bidding. "
For three quarters of an hour they waited then they heard footfalls crunching the newly fallen snow. Von Lutz peered out from his hiding place then stood up to greet a tall, broad shouldered man of about sixty wearing the top boots, leather jerkin and fur cap of a forester.
"You sent for me Herr Oberst Baron" the man inquired in a hoarse voice.
"Yes, Hans. You know the situation I am in and are loyally helping to protect me from the Gestapo. That would get you into serious trouble if it became known, but now I have an even greater service to ask of you; one which would certainly mean death for you if you were caught. If this weather continues and I fear it will we can't last long out here in the woods. If we don't die from cold we shall certainly lose our toes and fingers by frost bite. Moreover, one of these two friends of mine is wounded and may die unless we can get him into shelter. Are you willing to receive myself and these gentlemen in your cottage?"
"Certainly, Herr Oberst Baron. All that I have came from you and. Your family so it is yours to dispose of."
"Thank you, Hans. I felt certain that I could rely on you, but I should tell you that these two friends of mine are Englishmen; one is an officer of the British Air Force and the wounded than is a British Secret Service agent who is wanted by the Gestapo. They were in the plane which was shot down a few miles from here three nights ago."
"The Herr Oberst Baron knows best. If he thinks it right to protect them that is sufficient for me, too."
"Come, then; let's get the wounded man to your cottage as soon as possible. It's going to be a hard job to carry him all that way but we'll manage it somehow."
The Baron informed Charlton of the arrangement he had made and again using the camp bed as a stretcher the three of them set off through the woods with the unconscious Gregory. Von Lutz and Freddie carried the bed while Hans picked' the easiest way between the snow covered bushes. It was a two mile tramp but at last they reached the forester's cottage.
Hans Foldar went in first to prepare his wife. She accepted without argument his decision to shelter their master and his friends and at once they began to plan how best to conceal the fugitives. It was decided that the loft above the kitchen sitting room would be the best place and. Gregory having been carried in, after some difficulty they got him and the camp bed up there. Von Lutz then sent Hans to tell Magda to come to them with linen and bandages as soon as she could slip away from the house without being seen by the Nazis.
Frau Foldar, who was a buxom, middle aged woman, provided the refugees with a midday meal of vegetable stew and in the early afternoon Magda arrived with the things that her father had sent for. They were then able to undress Gregory., treat his wound with hot fermentations again and put him back in the camp bed after it had been properly made up with sheets and blankets. Meanwhile Hans brought in straw from his barn to make up two shake downs in the loft for his master and Charlton.
Gregory's temperature became still higher in the evening and it strained the nerves of those who were with him to listen to his monotonous ravings; but by nine o'clock he had dropped into unconsciousness again. His two companions were then able to relax and settle down to a much more comfortable night than they had known since the abortive Putsch on the previous Wednesday.
The next day, Sunday the t2th, proved the crisis in Gregory's illness but by evening his fever had worn itself out and although very weak he regained consciousness for the first time in many hours.
In the days that followed he gradually began to mend. The handsome, hard faced Magda managed to visit them each morning or afternoon, varying the times of her daily excursions so as not to arouse the suspicion of her unwelcome guests and always approaching the cottage by way of the woods in its rear. As well as treating Gregory’s wound she brought parcels of such luxuries as she could acquire locally to supplement the frugal fare which was all that the Foldars could provide. There was no actual shortage of food and, apart from lack of sugar, rationing did not worry them, as the country people evaded surrendering a considerable proportion of their produce to the authorities; but delicacies were rare and imported foods had entirely disappeared. Magda also brought them what news she could but little was coming through.
Six Nazis had been killed and sixty three injured by the Munich bomb explosion which, according to an announcement made by Himmler, had been plotted by the British Government the previous August and carried out by British Secret Service agents who had bribed a workman, employed on repairs in the Bierhaller, to place the bomb. No one believed this, as it was generally known that a most terrible purge was taking place throughout the length and breadth of Germany. Every effort was being made to suppress particulars of the military revolt in Berlin spreading to other parts of the Reich but many hundreds of officers, intellectuals and industrialists had been arrested while others had gone into hiding or escaped into neutral countries.
With the Nazis in the house Magda and her mother dared not listen to the foreign broadcasts, since the penalty for being caught was six months in a concentration camp for the first offence and death for the second, so for most of their news they had to rely on the German stations and such accounts of the war as appeared in the Nazi controlled Press.
The tension with Belgium and Holland had died down and a Foreign Office spokesman had declared that the Reich would respect the neutrality of both countries provided that Britain and France continued to do so.
The German Air Force had become much more active. Reconnaissance squadrons had photographed many British military areas, even in the estuary of the Thames, without opposition; successful raids had been carried out against British shipping and for the first time in the war German airmen had actually dropped bombs on British soil, in the Shetlands.
Time would have hung heavily on their hands had it not been for the magazines which Magda provided, out of which von Lutz read translations to Charlton, and also attempted to teach the young airman German.
Freddie was not a good linguist and he progressed slowly but by the time they had been in the cottage for a fortnight he could speak enough German to ask for anything he wanted and to carry on a halting conversation. Each night he and von Lutz got air and exercise by walking in the woods at the back of the cottage, since after the first few days it became apparent that the Nazis who had been left at the house to await the appearance of the Baron still had no suspicion that he was in the neighbourhood and, after depleting his cellar, went to bed at a regular hour.