APD is more prevalent in single men than married ones. Experts assert that behavioral hostility ís also typical of those suffering with APD. Avoidants may use their shyness as a way to hurt others by preventing them from becoming close. Alternatively, they will demonstrate their hostility ín a more overt manner by insulting people who attempt to be friendly, for example. This reaction may be because they are identifying their aggressor & deal with feared rejection by becoming rejecting themselves. These expressions of hostility could be seen as defensive fight responses. To protect themselves from being rejected, they reject others first. This ís maladaptive because the avoidants will tend to reject many people who would never have rejected them ín the first place. We see this trait displayed clearly in the case of Frederick Fairlie.

The causes of APD are thought to stem from factors in upbringing, such as the denial of the child's feelings by parents, or substitutes. We must note that the Fairlie family shows many signs of dysfunction. Madam Fosco married relatively late in life and to a confidence trickster, Anne Catherick is denied the bounties of the family although her father Phillip Fairlie must have realised to whom his wife referred in her letters to him, and therefore could have done more to help the child. His conduct then is questionable? Laura Fairlie also shows some signs of 'avoidance', her fragility may well have been a product of social mores but is present none-the-less. Later, if we are to take Hartright's account at face value, her personality disintegrates and for a time she loses contact with reality.

Taken individually these facts don't amount to much, but when taken together they suggest that whilst the Fairlies may have been noble squires, they also were subject to some neurotic influence probably going back generations, and to which Mr. Frederick Fairlie fell victim.

For all of this we must conclude that Frederick Fairlie Esquire, of Limmeridge House isn't an evil man, but that his illness had evil consequences for those over whom he held moral, or lawful authority.