Before dawn, Martha Ballard rides home exhausted after Rebecca Foster’s delivery. Tempest darts into the road and warns her, Brutus rears and throws Martha, and the horse bolts with her medical bag. Hurt, winded, and limping, Martha reaches the mill expecting Ephraim Ballard, only to find Joseph North inside with Cicero and Martha’s journal in his hands.

North demands the letter Martha took from his house and tears pages from the journal while taunting her. To buy time, Martha questions him, and North openly admits his role in Rebecca Foster’s rape, says he targeted Rebecca because of her ties to the Wabanaki, and declares that power gives him the right to take whatever he wants. He also makes clear that he used Joshua Burgess to help discredit Rebecca and to advance his plan to seize the Ballards’ property through his dealings with the Kennebec Proprietors.

When North begins to undress and move toward Martha, Martha tries to reach Ephraim’s curved blade. North grabs Martha by the hair and threatens that no one will believe her, but Martha breaks free by smashing her head into his face. Martha seizes the knife, warns him back, and when North lunges again, Martha drops low and cuts him between the legs, deliberately maiming rather than killing him so that North can never rape another woman again.

Ephraim arrives as North collapses and Cicero circles Martha. Martha immediately tells Ephraim that North attacked her, and Ephraim understands what happened. Because North will bleed to death without help, Martha forces herself to treat the wound, stitches what she can, and uses ice to slow the bleeding; Ephraim then takes North to Dr. Page under a cover story about a woodworking accident, knowing North will not want the truth told.

On Wednesday morning, Martha still cannot sleep and finally breaks down when Ephraim brings her a new journal. While Ephraim bathes and comforts her, Martha recounts the recent events he missed: Jonathan and Sally Pierce’s marriage plans, Rebecca’s labor, the baby’s placement with Sarah White, Henry Warren’s return, North’s stolen letter, and the assault at the mill. Ephraim reveals that he has secured the Ballards’ title to their land, become an agent of the Kennebec Proprietors, and proven Cyrus innocent of the forged charge; after learning North survived, Martha tells Ephraim that North did not kill Joshua Burgess and that Martha has finally determined who did.