He could hardly bear to contemplate the marriage of his son, yet day and night he must think of it and search for expedients which might put an end to the trouble and let him walk free again with his head raised high.
But there were only the two expedients.

He must speak out his fears that justice had miscarried, and that device his vanity forbade; or he must adopt Pettifer's suggestion, and from that he shrank almost as much.

He began to resent the presence of Stella Ballantyne and he showed it.
Sometimes a friendliness, so excessive that it was almost hysterical, betrayed him; more usually a discomfort and constraint.

He avoided her if by any means he could; if he could not quite avoid her an excuse of business was always on his lips.
"Your father hates me, Dick," she said.

"He was my friend until I touched his own life.