With open, honest talk, Mr Emerson, strips away her defences, forcing Lucy to admit she has been in love with George all along. He also mentions how his wife had "gone under" -- lost the will to live -- because she feared that George's contracting typhoid at the age of 12 was a punishment for his not being baptized. Her fear was the result of a visit by the stern clergyman Mr Eager, and the incident explains Eager's later claim that Mr Emerson had "murdered his wife in the sight of God".