After delivering Betsy Clark’s baby, Martha Ballard rides out with James Wall, expecting to treat Sam Dawin after a river accident. James explains that he, Sam, and Jonathan had tried to move boards down the Kennebec before the river froze, but the ice closed around their raft. Sam fell through while trying to reach shore, yet the men managed to pull him out alive.

James then reveals that Amos Pollard sent him not back to Martha’s house, but to the tavern. When Sam went under the ice, he saw a dead man frozen in the river, and James, Amos, and others cut the body free. Amos wants Martha to examine the corpse before anyone else.

As they ride, Martha senses James is hiding something. Pressed further, James admits the dead man may be Joshua Burgess, though the corpse is badly damaged, especially in the face. Martha is unexpectedly relieved by the possibility, because she had wanted Burgess punished for his crimes even if she had hoped for a hanging rather than an unexplained death.

James explains that the injuries suggest more than an accidental drowning, and that someone must officially determine the cause of death. He also implies that Dr. Cony may not be trusted to do so because of his friendship with Colonel North. Martha quickly understands the implication: if the body is Burgess, then someone may have killed him.

When James asks whether Rebecca Foster truly told the truth about Burgess and Colonel North raping her, Martha recalls tending Rebecca’s bruised and broken body months earlier and listening to her account. Martha answers without hesitation that she believes Rebecca completely. James closes the exchange with a grim suggestion that Burgess may already have met a kind of justice, saying Martha should not be so sure he did not hang after all.