Martha Ballard stops outside Coleman’s General with Rebecca Foster’s newborn in her arms as the Kennebec River begins to break up with spring ice. The baby is hungry, cold, and crying, and Martha reflects on the desperate choice that brought her there.

After the difficult birth, both Martha and Doctor tried to persuade Rebecca to look at the child and nurse her, but Rebecca refused even to hold the baby. Because Rebecca wanted no connection to the infant conceived through violence, Doctor concluded that the child was not safe if she remained there.

In the hallway, while they listened for Isaac, Doctor urged Martha to take the baby away immediately. Doctor decided she would tell Isaac that the child had been stillborn and buried, believing that lie might give Rebecca a chance to recover. Martha recoiled from the deception and from what Rebecca’s rejection seemed to demand, but she finally left the tavern with the infant hidden in her medical bag.

Once away from the tavern, Martha carried the baby beneath her cloak and wrestled with the terrible possibilities before her. Looking at the dangerous river, Martha recognizes that she could make the child disappear and no one might ever know, but she cannot do it. Remembering the daughters she buried years earlier, Martha decides to protect the baby instead, convinced that Rebecca does not yet understand the lifelong grief another loss would bring. With that resolve, Martha turns Brutus onto Winthrop Street and rides on with the child.