A nurse was provided, in addition to the one who had assisted Mrs.Hood, and the mother became herself the object of care.
Emily had been told that her father was ill, but this fiction it was soon impossible to maintain.

Three days after the last reported conversation between Wilfrid and Mrs.Baxendale, it was determined that the latter must take upon herself the office of telling Emily the truth.
Mrs.Hood implored her to do so; the poor mother was sinking into a state which scarcely left her the command of her mind, and, though she could not sustain the duty herself, it was her harassing desire that it might quickly be performed.

So at length the revelation was made, made with all the forbearance and strengthening tenderness of which a strong-souled woman is capable.

But the first syllables prepared Emily for the whole truth.

A secret dread, which she had not dared to confess to herself on that last evening, though probably it brought about the crisis in her suffering, and which the false assurances recently given her had perhaps not wholly overcome, rushed forth as soon as evil was hinted at.