Mr Foster may possibly have had a right to be irritated by this foolishness of his wife's, but he could have had no excuse for increasing her misery by keeping her waiting unnecessarily. Mind you, it is by no means certain that this is what he did, yet whenever they were to go somewhere, his timing was so accurate - just a minute or two late, you understand - and his manner so bland that it was hard to believe he wasn't purposely inflicting a nasty private little torture of his own on the unhappy lady. And one thing he must have known - that she would never dare to call out and tell him to hurry. He had disciplined her too well for that. He must also have known that if he was prepared to wait even beyond the last moment of safety, he could drive her nearly into hysterics. On one or two special occasions in the later years of their married life, it seemed almost as though he had wanted to miss the train simply in order to intensify the poor woman's suffering.

Es posible que el señor Foster tuviera derecho a sentirse irritado por esta estupidez de su esposa, pero no podría haber tenido ninguna excusa para aumentar su desdicha haciéndola esperar innecesariamente. Eso sí, no es de ninguna manera seguro que esto sea lo que hizo, sin embargo, cada vez que iban a alguna parte, su tiempo era tan preciso, solo un minuto o dos tarde, ¿comprende? Y su manera tan suave que era difícil de entender. Creo que no estaba infligiendo a propósito una pequeña tortura privada y desagradable a la infeliz dama. Y una cosa que él debe haber sabido - que ella nunca se atrevería a gritarle y decirle que se apresure. La había disciplinado demasiado bien para eso. También debe haber sabido que si estaba dispuesto a esperar incluso más allá del último momento de seguridad, podría llevarla casi a la histeria. En una o dos ocasiones especiales en los últimos años de su vida matrimonial, parecía casi como si hubiera querido perder el tren simplemente para intensificar el sufrimiento de la pobre mujer.