But Geoffrey's was the order of mind which expresses disturbance by attaching importance to trifles.

He attached an absurd importance to preserving absolute consistency in his letter, outside and in.

If he declared her to be Arnold Brinkworth's wife, he must direct to her as Arnold Brinkworth's wife; or who could tell what the law might say, or what scrape he might not get himself into by a mere scratch of the pen! The more he thought of it, the more persuaded he felt of his own cleverness here, and the hotter and the angrier he grew.
There is a way out of every thing.

And there was surely a way out of this, if he could only see it.
He failed to see it.

After dealing with all the great difficulties, the small difficulty proved too much for him.