Martha rides to the White saddlery and, before entering, is stopped by Rachel Blossom. Rachel apologizes sincerely for joining Clarissa Stone and Peggy Bridge in mocking Sarah White, admits the behavior was shameful, and reveals that she is about five months pregnant. Rachel asks Martha to deliver her baby instead of Dr. Page, and Martha warmly agrees.

Inside, Martha waits with Alice White until Sarah appears carrying her daughter, Charlotte. After brief talk about nursing and the baby’s health, Sarah asks about Cyrus’s arrest, and Martha says she is certain Burgess was murdered and certain Cyrus is innocent. Lowering her voice, Sarah confirms that Joshua Burgess once offered to pay her for sex, called her a whore when she refused, and then made a habit of watching her around town. Because Burgess frightened her, Sarah admits she was not sorry to hear he was dead.

Martha then asks about Charlotte’s name and father. Sarah says she named the baby after her paternal grandmother and insists that the child’s father, Henry, will return and marry her. When Sarah finally identifies him as Major Henry Warren of the Boston militia, Martha realizes this is the same man Judge North cited as his alibi for the night Rebecca Foster was raped. Sarah also explains that she skipped the Frolic because Henry would not want her acting as if she were free.

Seeing how firmly Sarah clings to that hope, Martha changes course and suggests a practical future instead. She explains that Dr. Coleman’s fading eyesight makes his ledgers difficult to manage and proposes that Sarah might eventually help him if she learns to read. Alice objects that Sarah should only care for Charlotte, but Martha argues that literacy would not prevent motherhood and could give Sarah income and independence. Privately, Martha also knows Sarah’s illiteracy keeps her vulnerable and limits any future with Cyrus, so she offers to teach Sarah herself using The New England Primer, as Martha’s husband once taught her.