He began to think pressure was being brought to bear on the girl from another side.

Naturally the Beamishes were reluctant to let her go: who would be so useful to them as Polly ?--who undertake, without scorn, the education of the whilom shepherd's daughters?
Still, they knew they had to lose her, and he could not see that it made things any easier for them to put off the evil day.

No, there was something else at the bottom of it; though he did not know what.

Then one evening, pondering a letter of Polly's, he slapped his forehead and exclaimed aloud at his own stupidity.

That night, into his reply he slipped four five-pound notes.