On Thursday, April 22, Martha Ballard goes to Dawin's Wharf as the river begins to break up with the spring thaw. Instead of checking on May, Martha confronts Sam Dawin about the rope used to hang Joshua Burgess and about the strip of lace she saw in Sam's pocket. Martha connects the lace to Rebecca Foster's account that Burgess tore lace from her shift and tied back his hair with it, and Sam's reaction tells Martha she has found the truth.

After resisting at first, Sam confesses that Burgess raped May at the Frolic in November. Sam says May stepped out to the privy during the disturbance Burgess caused with Hannah, and Burgess followed her, dragged her into the barn, and assaulted her while the noise of the dance covered her cries. Sam found May afterward, helped her first, and then chose to hunt Burgess because Rebecca's case had shown him that the law would not protect women or punish powerful men.

Sam explains that he was not willing to wait for legal justice, especially after Joseph North was acquitted, so he pursued Burgess. Sam says he and another man tracked Burgess through the woods, beat him, and hanged him from a tree. Martha asks about the rope, and Sam says he burned it, which means the physical evidence is gone. Martha tells Sam she will not report him because her purpose was to understand what happened, especially to learn whether Cyrus had any part in Burgess's death.

Sam says he kept May's lace as a reminder that he failed to protect her once and must never fail again. He admits that May's baby could be his because they had already been sleeping together before the assault, and he married May early to shield her from public shame, fines, and suspicion about the child's parentage. Martha reassures Sam that she does not blame him and says she will tell only Ephraim. When Martha presses Sam on one final point, Sam reveals that Cyrus was not with him that night; the man who helped kill Burgess was Jonathan.