She wrote to him again from Southampton the third day of her arrival; but before his answer came she received this short epistle from London:-- "Mr.Parchmount presents his compliments to Miss Clavering, and, by desire of Sir Miles St.John, requests her not to return to Laughton.
Miss Clavering will hear further in a few days, when Sir Miles has concluded the business that has brought him to London." This letter, if it excited much curiosity, did not produce alarm.

It was natural that Sir Miles should be busy in winding up his affairs; his journey to London for that purpose was no ill omen to her prospects, and her thoughts flew back to the one subject that tyrannized over them.
Mainwaring's reply, which came two days afterwards, disquieted her much more.

He had not found the letter she had left for him in the tree.

He was full of apprehensions; he condemned the imprudence of calling on her at Mr.Fielden's; he begged her to renounce the idea of such a risk.
He would return again to Guy's Oak and search more narrowly: had she changed the spot where the former letters were placed?
Yet now, not even the non-receipt of her letter, which she ascribed to the care with which she had concealed it amidst the dry leaves and moss, disturbed her so much as the evident constraint with which Mainwaring wrote,--the cautious and lukewarm remonstrance which answered her passionate appeal.
It may be that her very doubts, at times, of Mainwaring's affection had increased the ardour of her own attachment; for in some natures the excitement of fear deepens love more than the calmness of trust.

Now with the doubt for the first time flashed the resentment, and her answer to Mainwaring was vehement and imperious.