He had a passion for his profession, she knew.

It was quite possible that this had inspired his taking that awful risk the night before, quite possible also that a hopeless case did not appeal to him and that he had not therefore greatly cared how soon or in what manner Mrs.Stubbs had passed out through the prison-door which it was his work to guard.

She realized vaguely that this form of callousness was not so hideous as she had at first deemed it.

She also began to realize that for a man who had seen suffering and death in many forms and who found himself finally powerless to alleviate the one or avert the other, the inevitable end could not possess the tragic significance which it possessed for others.
Either point of view of his character was possible.

She did not know him well enough to decide to her own satisfaction which was actually the true one.