Chap­ter 26 begins with Alice arriv­ing ear­ly at the cour­t­house, exhaust­ed from sleep­less nights and the emo­tion­al tur­moil of Margery’s tri­al. Ear­li­er, she had attempt­ed to bring Margery a piece of corn­bread while she was in jail, hop­ing to offer com­fort, but Margery refused to eat, reflect­ing her dete­ri­o­rat­ing men­tal and phys­i­cal state. The weight of the sit­u­a­tion is com­pound­ed by the absence of Kath­leen and Fred, two of their strongest allies, leav­ing Alice feel­ing even more anx­ious about how the tri­al will unfold. How­ev­er, the pres­ence of Izzy and Beth pro­vides a small mea­sure of reas­sur­ance, as they stand togeth­er in sol­i­dar­i­ty, wait­ing for the pro­ceed­ings to begin.

As the court­room fills, a charged sense of antic­i­pa­tion set­tles over the room, with towns­peo­ple mur­mur­ing in hushed voic­es, their curios­i­ty and judg­ment pal­pa­ble. Just as the tri­al seems to be pro­ceed­ing toward an inevitable out­come, the sud­den arrival of Kath­leen inter­rupts the pro­ceed­ings, bring­ing an unex­pect­ed turn of events. She is not alone—she has brought a cru­cial new wit­ness, Ver­na McCul­lough, whose tes­ti­mo­ny has the poten­tial to alter the course of the tri­al. Ver­na, vis­i­bly ner­vous and heav­i­ly preg­nant, steps for­ward, her pres­ence alone shock­ing the court­room into silence. She reveals that she and her sis­ter had lived under the rigid and iso­lat­ed rule of their father, Clem McCul­lough, a man known for his cru­el­ty and strict con­trol over his daugh­ters.

The most sig­nif­i­cant rev­e­la­tion in Ver­na’s tes­ti­mo­ny is that Clem had dis­ap­peared just days before Christ­mas, claim­ing he was on his way to return a library book—Lit­tle Women—the very book that was lat­er dis­cov­ered near a dead body, a key piece of evi­dence that had impli­cat­ed Margery. This rev­e­la­tion changes every­thing, as it intro­duces the strong pos­si­bil­i­ty that Clem’s death was not the result of mur­der but rather an unfor­tu­nate acci­dent caused by the unfor­giv­ing win­ter con­di­tions. Ver­na, who has spent her life fol­low­ing her father’s harsh dic­tates, now stands in the court­room offer­ing the truth, not to pro­tect his name, but to ensure jus­tice is served. Her tes­ti­mo­ny casts doubt on the prosecution’s case, forc­ing the judge to recon­sid­er the alle­ga­tions against Margery.

After weigh­ing the new evi­dence, the judge deter­mines that there is insuf­fi­cient proof to con­vict Margery of mur­der and offi­cial­ly dis­miss­es all charges. The weight that had been suf­fo­cat­ing the room lifts instant­ly, and relief wash­es over Margery’s sup­port­ers as the tri­al ends in her favor. The moment is met with gasps, whis­pers, and even­tu­al­ly cheers as Margery, weak­ened by the weeks of impris­on­ment and emo­tion­al dis­tress, is helped to her feet by her friends. Sven, who had been anx­ious­ly await­ing the out­come, rush­es to her side, rein­forc­ing the unwa­ver­ing sup­port and love he has for her.

As the crowd dis­pers­es, Ver­na, with a final qui­et remark of “Good rid­dance,” hints at the deep-seat­ed resent­ment she held toward her father, offer­ing a glimpse into the com­pli­cat­ed fam­i­ly dynam­ics she endured. Her words sig­nal a sense of clo­sure, not just for her­self but for every­one who had been affect­ed by the wrong­ful accu­sa­tions that led to Margery’s arrest. The chap­ter con­cludes with a heart­felt moment out­side the cour­t­house, where Margery is reunit­ed with Sven and her baby, a sym­bol­ic rep­re­sen­ta­tion of new begin­nings and the strength of com­mu­ni­ty bonds.

The vic­to­ry in court is more than just a legal triumph—it is a tes­ta­ment to the pow­er of truth, resilience, and the unwa­ver­ing sup­port of friends who refuse to let injus­tice pre­vail. The chap­ter rein­forces themes of per­se­ver­ance, female sol­i­dar­i­ty, and the impor­tance of stand­ing against soci­etal prej­u­dice, set­ting the stage for the char­ac­ters to move for­ward into a future no longer over­shad­owed by false accu­sa­tions and fear.