Sentence:  Even the comfort of the bottle might conceivably fail him in this supreme crisis. At such an age nothing but a halter could cure the pangs of an unquenchable passion. And, besides, there was the wild exasperation aroused by the unjust <WSD>aspersions</WSD> and the contumely of the house, with the maddening impossibility to account for that mysterious thrashing, added to these simple and bitter sorrows. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An attack on somebody's reputation or good name, often in the phrase "to cast aspersions upon…". (from late 16th c.)