水巷的“终于”如果用英文eventually来表达，也许就好解释了。
“终于”在英文里，大约可以对应两个词eventually和finally。网上查了下词典，
eventually：in the end, especially after a long time or a lot of effort, problems, etc.
例句1：Although she had been ill for a long time, it still came as a shock when she eventually died.
例句2：It might take him ages but he'll do it eventually.
finally：（1）after a long time or some difficulty（方注：这点和eventually相同）
例句1：We finally got home at midnight.
例句2：After months of looking he finally found a job.
（2）used especially at the beginning of a sentence to introduce the last point or idea
例句：Finally, I'd like to thank everyone for coming this evening.
（3）in a way that will not be changed
例句：The plan hasn't been finally approved.
初读水巷的那篇文章，结句觉得熟悉，想了一下，是迅哥笔法。我猜测，水巷和晴空都是熟读鲁迅的，孔乙己结尾：
“自此以后，又长久没有看见孔乙己。到了年关，掌柜取下粉板说，“孔乙己还欠十九个钱呢！”到第二年的端午，又说“孔乙己还欠十九个钱呢！”到中秋可是没有说，再到年关也没有看见他。
我到现在终于没有见——大约孔乙己的确死了。”
这里“终于”大概是finally的意思。
个人认为，水巷的“终于”用得没错（如果她是表达in the end, especially after a lot of effort, problems, etc.），但和前面的记叙对比度太大，较突兀，让人产生作者冷漠的感觉。这点我和晴空的感受相同。
（作者到底啥原因没去不知道，这只是从读者的角度揣测）
