"It would be better, if I were here when... if... the authorities come."
"I think it would be better if you went to Budapest," Canidy said.
"Just as soon as you can."
She ignored him.
"I have sent for rubber bandage," she said.
"I'm sure there's some here. I think about all we can do for this man is to wrap the ankle tightly, then stiffen the ankle. You take my meaning?"
"Splint it," Canidy said, nodding.
"Thank you."
Alois came into the room with von Heurten-Mitnitz on his heels.
"Their airplane landed," the Countess said.
Von Heurten-Mitnitz looked at Canidy, surprised.
"Intact?" he asked.
"Yes," Canidy said.
"And you plan to use it to leave?" von Heurten-Mitnitz asked.
Canidy nodded.
"If we can."
"I think it would be best if you took Beatrice with you," von HeurtenMitnitz said.
"No," the Countess said.
"I am staying here to do what I can while you go to Budapest. But I am not leaving with them."
"I don't see any way that what has happened here can be hidden," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"Then you leave, too," the Countess said.
"There is a good chance that no one knows about either the drop or the plane landing," Canidy said.
"I think that is highly unlikely," von Heurten-Mitnitz said.
"You and the Countess slept through two passes and the landing itself," Canidy said.
Von Heurten-Mitnitz grunted, reluctantly granting the point.
"I don't want to have to worry about you, Countess," Canidy said, "while we're getting Eric and the professor out of St. Gertrud's. I want you to go to Budapest, and now."
She met his eyes for a moment.
"All right," she said finally.
"Just let me do what I can for him."
Twenty minutes later, the Opel Admiral drove away from the lodge. By then, it had stopped snowing. Canidy wondered if enough snow had fallen to conceal the tracks the C-47 had made on the meadow, or to obscure the outline of the aircraft under the pine boughs.