Sentence:  One might suppose that this flood of summonses caused consternation. It did not, because the boodlers were too strongly entrenched to fear an attack; bribery had been too long rampant to expect a sudden pruning and too many prominent St. Louisans were involved to permit the <WSD>esclandre</WSD> going very far. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An incident that ocasions much disapproving talk; scandalous conduct; a scene.