What does Lizabeth discover about the parents when she overhears the conversation?

Lizbeth realizes that her mother is carrying the financial burdens, and that her father... her pillar of strength was falling apart.... feeling useless.

The world had lost its boundary lines. My mother, who was small and soft, was now the strength of the family; my father, who was the rock on which the family had been built, was sobbing like the tiniest child. Everything was suddenly out of tune, like a broken accordion. Where did I fit into this crazy picture? I do not now remember my thoughts, only a feeling of great bewilderment and fear.