June’s birthday begins with affectionate gestures from the hotel staff, including a tray of baked goods, a note from the print shop friends, and hidden “fairy gifts.” In the lobby, Basil Pemberton discreetly passes along a rescued piece of mail bearing Francis Gilfoyle’s handwriting, which June saves for the day’s end, aware both of its significance and the staff’s awareness of it.

The first “sour thing” arrives at the gatehouse: Mr. Forester, a reporter from The New York Herald Tribune, fishes for gossip about Avallon, the foreign nationals, and provocative incidents, culminating in insinuations about Francis Gilfoyle and why he left part of the hotel to June. June reverses the pressure by theatrically offering a full federal background check on the reporter, prompting him to retreat. After he leaves, gatekeeper Stan Fairhope gives June a birthday corsage.

Next, Ovid Persinger confronts June outside Toad’s office about costs, rationing, and a proposed menu he says would bankrupt the hotel. June backs Ovid’s austerity and authorizes gutting the menu while testing margarine in the canteen. Ovid, grudging and exacting, mentions a birthday picnic arranged by Chef Fortéscue and then drops alarming news: bell captain Sebastian Hepp has received draft orders and will be inducted within months. June reflects on looming wartime realities and the staff shifts she will need to manage.

At the birthday picnic-meeting in the Avallon II with Pennybacker and the two Swiss musicians (a conductor and a harpsichordist), June surveys an elaborate spread and hears Pennybacker’s update: a ship may soon remove the diplomats if exchange negotiations hold. He explains the hostage mathematics—one-for-one exchanges with Germany and Japan—and notes Angela Bickenbach’s decision to stay in America forces an American to remain in Germany, complicating the lists.

The gathering turns personal when June asks Pennybacker about his private life. He admits his wife left him for a younger man and that the marriage also suffered after they lost a baby; he still writes to her daily. June advises creating distance—holding calls and letters—to let absence work. Tension then flares between the Swiss when the conductor accuses the harpsichordist of splashing him; the harpsichordist denies it emphatically, the conductor departs in brittle silence, and the harpsichordist abruptly leaves as well.

Left with Pennybacker, June dismisses the notion that the “demon water” acted, yet afterward lowers her hand into the pool and listens. The water feels indistinguishable from herself, and she recalls Hannelore Wolfe’s episode and Sabine Wolfe’s chill, sensing the sweetwater has soured, as if it is beginning to listen to the diplomats. She resolves that their departure would be for the best. The chapter closes with a wry “Happy birthday.”