Hannelore was simultaneously afraid of and fascinated by Sandy Gilfoyle, who never moved from his wheelchair and was tended by Stella. She tracked his whereabouts when not in lessons, noting that only June Hudson regularly acknowledged him and spoke to him, while most staff and diplomats politely ignored him. Hannelore observed Sandy from hiding places, testing whether Citizen the terrier’s easy behavior around him meant Sandy was harmless.

On a rainy day in the Portrait Gallery, Stella parked Sandy by a window and left him. Hannelore concealed herself behind a sofa to watch him. Lothar Liebe, Dr. Otto, and Friedrich entered, speaking German, and settled with drinks and cigarettes, assuming Sandy’s presence did not matter. Their conversation began with boredom, romantic conquests, and soon shifted to logistics: Lothar stated negotiations were nearly complete and that Lieselotte Berger would be going with them, and the men briefly discussed the safety of a marked neutral diplomatic craft headed for Portugal.

The talk turned to Hannelore. Lothar asked if Sabine had stopped worrying about Hannelore; after a tense pause, Friedrich said Sabine wished to spare Hannelore a difficult change. Lothar replied he had made inquiries and that authorities deemed Hannelore a good candidate for sterilization and possibly mild conditioning. Dr. Otto minimized the impact, and Lothar pressed Friedrich not to divide loyalties. Friedrich snapped back with uncharacteristic anger, then apologized when Lothar urged him not to let the war divide them. When Lothar asked about “the meaning of her song,” Friedrich refused, saying that was for Germany, prompting Lothar to quip that meant she was returning to Germany; Friedrich threatened to strike him.

After the men left, the room fell quiet except for the rain. Hannelore, shaken by talk of sterilization and returning to Germany, tried to slip out without taking her eyes off Sandy. Reaching for the doorknob, she instead plunged her hand into an animal-headed water font.

The contact flooded Hannelore with sweetwater sensations: a rush of hotel-wide awareness, the positions of snails across the grounds, and a clear image of a hot and a cold spring with vivid green moss and multicolored snails. Unlike past joyful impressions, this message was urgent: run. Staggering from the shock, she noticed movement outside the window.

In slow, vivid detail, Hannelore saw a large form fall past the glass. She realized it was a woman, glimpsed blue eyes as the face flashed by, and understood the gravity of what she was seeing. At that instant, Sandy Gilfoyle, long motionless, turned his head, and Hannelore screamed.