Sentence:  When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his <WSD>father</WSD> to have been a country storekeeper. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A (generally human) male who begets a child.