De nuevo, su modo de manifestar su descontento hacia mi hermano o hacia mí tenía algo de terrible en su calma, algo que nunca olvidábamos y que siempre temíamos como la peor calamidad que pudiera caernos en suerte.
Whenever, as boys, we committed some boyish fault, he never displayed outwardly any irritation—he simply altered his manner towards us altogether.
We were not soundly lectured, or vehemently threatened, or positively punished in anyway; but, when we came in contact with him, we were treated with a cold, contemptuous politeness (especially if our fault showed a tendency to anything mean or ungentlemanlike) which cut us to the heart.
On these occasions, we were not addressed by our Christian names; if we accidentally met him out of doors, he was sure to turn aside and avoid us; if we asked a question, it was answered in the briefest possible manner, as if we had been strangers.
His whole course of conduct said, as though in so many words—You have rendered yourselves unfit to associate with your father; and he is now making you feel that unfitness as deeply as he does.
We were left in this domestic purgatory for days, sometimes for weeks together. To our boyish feelings (to mine especially) there was no ignominy like it, while it lasted.
No sé en qué términos vivió mi padre con mi madre. Hacia mi hermana, su comportamiento siempre mostró algo de la pasada y afectuosa galantería de otra época. Le prestaba la misma atención que le habría dispensado a la dama más encumbrada del reino. La llevaba al comedor, cuando estábamos solos, exactamente igual que habría conducido a una duquesa a un salón de banquetes. A nosotros, siendo