Sentence:  ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,' said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the policenb...? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for <WSD>fear</WSD> of appearing in the newspapers?' 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  (uncountable: unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger) A strong, uncontrollable, unpleasant emotion caused by actual or perceived danger or threat.