diff --git a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/FileLengthCheck.java b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/FileLengthCheck.java
index 4c2ad55f1..fe2196bc9 100644
--- a/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/FileLengthCheck.java
+++ b/src/checkstyle/com/puppycrawl/tools/checkstyle/checks/FileLengthCheck.java
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ import com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.api.Check;
 public class FileLengthCheck extends Check
 {
     /** the maximum number of lines */
-    int mMaxFileLength = 2000;
+    private int mMaxFileLength = 2000;
 
     /** @see com.puppycrawl.tools.checkstyle.api.Check */
     public int[] getDefaultTokens()