Axis delegations arrived at the Avallon after days of preparation, with contemporary wartime news underscoring the gravity of the moment. The men entered first to receive keys and instructions while staff cars went back for families and luggage. Basil Pemberton formally welcomed them, explaining procedures and constraints, while June Hudson looked on and assessed the mix of high-status diplomats and support staff, noting how the latter marveled at the hotel’s splendor.

June felt unexpected tenderness seeing the support staff’s awe, recalling her own first encounter with the Avallon. Pemberton reminded guests to surrender prohibited items to the FBI’s safekeeping and pointed them to State Department liaison Benjamin Pennybacker for keys and maps. He announced movement limits, meal arrangements, a 10 p.m. floor curfew, and access to the shopping arcade. When asked about bathhouses, he stated they were closed for winter maintenance; June silently endorsed holding back the potent springheads until the hotel and its sweetwater had time to gauge the new guests.

Among the arrivals, June noted Sabine Wolfe and her daughter Hannelore, who observed others with a piercing, studying gaze. Sebastian Hepp quietly briefed June: Sabine’s husband was German cultural attaché Friedrich Wolfe, and Hannelore did not speak but could sing. He also pointed out Erich von Limburg-Stirum, a celebrated German trick pilot now stranded by the war; June warned the staff not to pester him for autographs.

The lobby grew chaotic as wives, children, and pets arrived. Social frictions surfaced—class disdain, cultural misunderstandings, and language barriers—while June trusted her well-trained staff to manage without her direct interference. She reflected on the reciprocal bond between her and her team, who together embodied the Avallon’s unified excellence.

Sachiko Nishimura, wife of Japanese consul Takeo Nishimura, approached June to praise the hotel and confide a problem: the Japanese delegation’s accounts were frozen, jeopardizing tips customary in such an establishment. Reading Sachiko’s indirectness, June addressed the issue openly, promising to inform staff about the unusual circumstances and suggesting that incoming Swiss liaisons could help with embassy finances.

Relieved, Sachiko remarked on the comfort of being cared for by a woman manager and asked if June was Francis Gilfoyle’s daughter. June realized Sachiko could not hear her Appalachian accent as a class marker and momentarily imagined a life as Edgar Gilfoyle’s wife and a Gilfoyle by name. She ultimately answered simply that she belonged to the Avallon, reaffirming her identity and loyalty to the hotel.